


tiny stars, tiny lives.

by seacanary



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Additional Tags to Be Added, Child AU, Fluff, Gen, Model Oikawa Tooru, Multi, Parent AU, Pretty Setter Squad Shenanigans, bcuz i have no clue where this is going, going through occasional early chapter revamps, lots of friendships, tobio is an honorary member because he will be pretty hes just like 12., will there be a marriage? who knows!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-24
Updated: 2016-04-24
Packaged: 2018-05-03 06:27:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5280200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seacanary/pseuds/seacanary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keiji spends his time as a book editor waiting to get home to see his family, hoping his son did his homework.<br/>Daichi spends his time crunching numbers and hoping his kid doesn't kill anyone while he's at school.<br/>Their kids get along wonderfully, and two worlds come crashing together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. son-trayed

**Author's Note:**

> um! hello! i havent posted anything in ages!! (mostly because i've been working on my book!) but i really liked this idea of the bokuaka family w/ a little hinata and daisuga with tobio has always been a favortie trope of mine.  
> also, there is literally no plot as of now which is really unfortunate but i'll sort things out later.  
> akaashi and daichi r gonna be best buddies its gonna be awesome  
> (2/11/16)some of the chapters are currently being remodeled, so if there's inconsistencies, i apologize! also. guess who made a plotline.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bokuto-Akaashi Keiji is a hard working man that just wants to get home, god damn it.  
> Tobio is a stubborn boy, but Daichi has learned to live with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter has been remodeled and combined with the chapter that comes after it for more chapter space and a longer chapter in general. expect another remodel later to solve continuity issues.

When Bokuto-Akaashi Keiji thought of work, he thinks of morning coffee and his sunshine ball of a child running out the door before he hopped on a train and rode for about forty-five minutes before he made it to the station. It was crowded and clustered and Keiji hated every moment of it, but he grinned and beared it just to get to work on time. He apologized to people he bumped into and speed walked to his bus station. Finally, he made it to work, and rushed into the elevator.

When Keiji thought of the elevator, he thought of all the floors that whirred by as he made it to his editing company, perched nearly at the top of the tall office building. The elevator paused, a few floors before the top, and a man walked in. Keiji nodded at him, slowly, but the man seemed preoccupied with his work.

Keiji didn’t mind. It meant he didn’t have to force a conversation, something he hated but had gotten oddly used to in the cramped office building.

The man finally looked up and towards the front wall of the elevator. He squinted at the door before he smacked his forehead. He turned to Keiji, and he finally gets a good look at him.

He’s got a goddamn strong jaw, one Keiji nearly envied himself, short dark hair a bit disheveled from the morning grind. His eyes were stern and kind, something Keiji had found a fondness for in his youth. He almost didn’t notice when he spoke.

“Excuse me, what floor are you on?”

Keiji blinked. “Thirty four. Why?”

The man check his watch clicked his tongue. “Damnit. I don’t have enough time. Can you give this to Michimiya on thirty four? Tell her it’s from Sawamura.”

He’s handed a stack of papers with very neatly written kanji for “Michimiya Yui” on the top. It’s paper clipped together and the top sheet is a little off center, but it feels important. Keiji stared at it for a moment before looking back at Sawamura.

“Sure. I’ll give it to her.”

Relief flooded into Sawamura’s shoulders. Keiji smiled lightly, and heard the faint ding of the elevator finally reaching his floor. He turned to wave goodbye to Sawamura, who returned the favor graciously.

Thankfully, Keiji knew who Michimiya was, and walked over to her desk. It was cluttered with hundreds of papers making stacks that really didn’t look all too safe, but Keiji trusted her. She did manage nearly all of the editing department up on thirty four.

“Michimiya-san,” Keiji started. “I have some papers from Sawamura.”

“Sawamura?” She said, nearly the same expression of relief from Sawamura on her face. “Thank God. He’s transferring some paperwork from the accounting department a few floors up and I _really_ needed these papers. Thank you, Bokuto-Akaashi.”

Keiji gulped. Michimiya was one of the few people on the floor that actually called him by what he wanted. Of course, it meant that she’d dropped the “san,” but Keiji would take what he could get. He cringed any time that the staff members just called him “Bokuto” or just “Akaashi” or worse, dropped them both after knowing them for no time and called him Keiji because the other two were too hard.

It wasn’t that hard, they just didn’t want to try.

He sat down in his office chair and stared at the photo on his desk. It was him, Koutaro, and Shouyo, after Koutaro had won a massive game for his volleyball team. The medal didn’t hang around Koutaro’s shoulder, but Shouyo’s. Kou said it was because the whole family had really helped him win. Shouyo’s face lit up at that, and Keiji smiled warmly. It was the perfect photo.

Keiji shook his head. He needed to check his schedule. So far, he just needed to call Sato-sensei and get the manuscript, then attend the meeting with the other members of the editing crew.

He leaned back on his chair for a second, cracked his knuckles, and picked up the phone. He dialed for Sato, and waited.

“Hello, Sensei? Yes, it’s me, Bokuto-Akaashi. I’d really like it if you could fax me your manuscript later.”

****

And now, Keiji was bored. Another boring meeting full of authors that hardly seem to know how difficult it is to edit a book and rookie editors that seem to think the best idea to get manuscripts is to ask politely. The lead editor droned on and on about how the author is always right and editors need to be more and more careful these days. More gentle towards the authors.

Each one sent out a sigh. Keiji saw an old author of his, who never sent in their manuscripts on time, and frowns.

 _Author’s always right, totally._ He thought. Of course they’re always right, they never want to be wrong.

With one last hurrah, the meeting came to a close. Keiji bowed to his fellow editors and the authors, and made a brisk walk to the exit. It took much longer than expected to get that damn manuscript off of Sato, so he was desperately unprepared for the meeting. He spent the whole time taking notes and trying to catch up. On top of that, the meeting had run a little late, and he didn’t want to spend time at work when he could be at home. He loved his job, of course he did, but he didn’t know if he liked it in that particular building.

He rushed to the elevator and made it in without a hitch. He didn’t even look at the obvious other person inside, and just slammed the button for the bottom floor. It took him a moment to realize that it was already pressed. He turned to the other person in the elevator. Sawamura.

“Good afternoon,” he said. There’s a hint of a smile on his face.

“Good afternoon.” Keiji responds. He was a bit embarrassed, to say the least.

“Did Yui get the packet?” Sawamura asked, although his face said he already knew.

“Yes, she did.” Keiji said. “She looked really thankful.”

“Ah, good.” Sawamura said, staring at nothing. “You know, I never caught your name.”

“Bokuto-Akaashi Keiji.” Keiji said like he rehearsed it. “And you’re Sawamura...”

“Sawamura Daichi. Nice to meetcha.” He grinned.

The elevator dinged as they hit the ground floor. Sawamura and Keiji walked out together and through the front door. And then onto the same street. And took the same turn.

“Are you going to the train station?” Sawamura asked.

“Yes, I am. You as well?” Keiji asked.

“Yeah. Mind if we walk together?”

“Not at all.”

Keiji and Sawamura made idle chat as they made their way to the train station. Keiji’s phone buzzed in his breast pocket. He pulled out his phone to see Koutaro and Shouyo smiling proudly in front of completed math homework. The words on the bottom of his worksheet spelled out “I love my dads!” in English. Keiji smiled. Attatched to it was a little text from Koutaro.

_How dare you make our son so determined to work that he doesnt even want 2 play vball w/ me :”( i feel so son-trayed._

_Get it? like bro-trayed (like kuroo!) but with my son!_

Keiji suppressed a giggle. _Son-trayed_? What did that even mean?

Sawamura leaned over his shoulder and saw Keiji’s family. “Kids?”

“Child and husband, yes.” Keiji sighed.

“Cute kid,” Sawamura noted. “Though I have to say, my husband is prettier.”

Keiji’s eyebrows shot up. He honestly didn’t expect another gay person in their building. He thought he was the only one. Well, at least in the editing department. Sawamura checked all of his pockets frantically before he pulled out his own phone. The wallpaper was of him, who Keiji assumed to be his husband -- a really pretty man with silver hair and a mole right below his eye -- and a child. Although the child looked irrationally upset, having his parents around him made his pout even more adorable.

“That’s Koushi,” Sawamura pointed to the silver-haired man, “and my kid, Tobio.”

“You have a very beautiful family.” Keiji said.

Sawamura puffed up his chest. “I do indeed! And my boys a child prodigy, I swear. I’ve never seen a kid more obsessed with volleyball in my life.”

The two got to the bus stop and waited for it for a second. “Oh, I beg to differ. Sho-tan doesn’t talk about anything other than volleyball and his Uncle Kenma.” Keiji said.  “Although, that might be Kou-tan’s fault.” He added as an afterthought. They walked on the bus and took a seat near the back.

“Oh, really?” Sawamura said as they sat. “My kid’s a setter, and he’s been looking for someone to hit his tosses.”

Keiji smiled. “I think Sho-tan needs someone his age group to play volleyball with. He can’t stay with the national team forever...”

“The national team?” Sawamura looked shocked. “Kou-tan... Kou-tan...” Keiji assumed it would take him about another minute to figure out who “Kou-tan” was. When the other man figured it out, Keiji nearly laughed.

“You mean Bokuto Koutaro? The wing spiker from the national team?” Sawamura said with his jaw nearly on the floor.

“Yes, I do.” Keiji said with pride. “Although, it would be Bokuto-Akaashi Koutaro, we share our last names.”

“Sorry about that,” Sawamura said. “Koushi just took mine. Although I do miss calling him Sugar.”

Keiji laughed along with Sawamura for a while. They swapped terrible family stories, from the first time Shouyo tumbled into the bushes by their volleyball net to the time, apparently, Tobio tried to smile and sent a puppy running with his tail between his legs. The bus ride seemed so much shorter with someone to talk to.

They left the bus and talked while they made their way to the station. Of course, they were in different directions. “Oh, I have an idea, Sawamura-san.” He said.

“What is it?” Sawamura hummed.

Keiji passed his phone to Sawamura. “Here, give me your phone number. Maybe we can set up a play date between Tobio and Sho-tan?”

“Yeah, sure. Sounds good.” Sawamura said. After their contacts has successfully been transferred, Sawamura nodded confidently. “I’ll call you later tonight. We can set something up for next weekend.”

Keiji nodded in agreement. They split off onto different trains, but Keiji was thankful he talked to him. First time interactions don’t usually go that well. One the train, he called Koutaro to inform him he’d be there soon, and within five minutes, Keiji was home and heading to the backyard with his family.

It’s hard to spike without a setter, they said. Maybe they could spend five minutes. Then Keiji needed to make dinner.

Meanwhile, Daichi decided that he’d best get home as soon as possible. Koushi had sent him a text -- something about Tobio needing help on his homework that Daichi really didn’t believe, Koushi is a teacher, goddamn it, he can help his own kid -- and wanted to get back as soon as possible. It’s not like saying “Tobio needs help” would make him want to come home any less.

His train was surprisingly empty, only a few irresponsible teenagers huddled in the corner of the train car kept him company. They weren’t very conversational, anyway.

Instead, Daichi stared out the window, watching the cityscape blow past and the sun sink into the horizon. He decided it was very much worth it to stay in Miyagi. He loved the landscape and the air around the area. And the volleyball team is a plus.

He got off the train and walked back to his house, each step feeling heavier than the last. He really, really, _really_ wanted to get home. He saw his house crawl into his line of sight and sighed. Daichi was ready for a warm plate of food and his family.

He opened the door to a familiar sight. Koushi was hanging over Tobio, who was  diligently scribbling away at his homework. Koushi commented every once and awhile on Tobio’s sentence structure or penmanship.

"Tobio, sweetheart, you have to finish your English homework." Koushi said. Daichi assumed that Koushi could handle this. He slipped off his shoes and placed his bag by the door.

"No way. Why do we have to learn English anyway? We're Japanese." Tobio said. He was right, but that didn't mean he didn't have to do his work.

Daichi saw the light in Koushi’s eye. He’d gotten an idea.. "Because you won't be able to graduate."

Tobio looked up at him. "Why does that matter?"

Koushi slid next to Tobio on their table. "You want to go to Karasuno, right?"

Tobio nodded slowly.

"What grade do you have to be in to go?"

"Duh, Dad, I need to graduate my third year of middle school." Tobio snapped. Then it hit him. Tobio sat up abruptly. "I won't be able to go if I don't graduate!"

Tobio leaned over his work and finished it in near record time. Koushi puffed his chest up proudly. Some strategies work on middle schoolers as well as elementary schoolers. He patted his son's back and wandered into the kitchen. Daichi watched him walk right past him, collect his things to make dinner, and get it started. From his place in the kitchen, Daichi heard Tobio's lead snap. He laughed, and Tobio cursed under his breath.

"No cursing in the house, Tobio!" Koushi called.

Daichi walked over to his husband and kissed him on the cheek. "Come on, Koushi, let him say what he wants. A young boy needs to express himself!"

“Hush, Daichi,” Koushi mused.

Tobio had looked over and gagged. “Dad, no, that’s weird!”

Daichi walked into the room and ruffled his son’s hair.

“Daaaaaad, no! That’s weird!” Tobio yelled again.

Daichi laughed low in his chest. “No, you’re weird!”

Tobio stuck his tongue out at his father until he shushed him to get back to work. Tobio grumbled _again_ before his lead snapped. He nearly threw his pencil at the wall.

“Tobio, please. Your pencil isn’t doing anything.” Daichi said.

Daichi hoped Koushi made them a lot of food. He was entirely exhausted and just wanted a warm meal before he got in the bath.  To distract himself from his ebbing hunger, he leaned over to see what his son was doing.

“How much you got left?” He asked.

“Just English. I still think it’s dumb that we need to learn English if we’re Japanese...” Tobio grumbled.

Daichi nodded in agreement. “But imagine you become a super-famous volleyball player, right?”

Tobio leaned close. Daichi had struck a positive conversation topic.

“You’re a super-mega famous volleyball player, and you have to do an interview in English. At first, you’re say, “sure! I can do it!” But then you remember that you failed English in middle school and have to decline the interview and then no one in America sees how awesome you are.”

Tobio’s eyes went wide. “I can’t disappoint my American fans...” He said with a type seriousness only Tobio could have. Once again inspired to finish his homework, Tobio scratched down “I want to play volleyball” as the last answer on his worksheet. A sense of pride welled through him.

“So, champ in the making,” Daichi started. He felt like a motivational speaker from a videogame. “I think I might’ve found someone to play volleyball with.”

Tobio looked up with interest. “Someone to hit my toss?”

Daichi leaned back. “I just met his dad today, actually.”

“Then you don’t know him.” Tobio reasoned.

“We’re in the same building! That’s close,” Daichi said.

Koushi slid his (wonderfully made) food in front of the two of them. “Oh? Are you going to ditch me for this mystery work man?”

“He was kind of pretty....” Daichi said under his breath.

Koushi slapped the back on his head. “Excuse you?”

“You’re prettier, dear,” Daichi said. He really hoped Koushi knew he was joking. “Anyway, his name is Bokuto-Akaashi, I think? He’s married to that famous spiker from the international team.”

Tobio stood up from his seat, his stir fry nearly pouring all over him. “You’re kidding! You know Bokuto-Akaashi Koutaro’s husband?”

Daichi and Koushi looked to one another. Daichi shrugged. “I guess?”

Tobio sat down slowly and took a few bites of his dinner. The air was uneasily stiff for a few seconds before Tobio decided to speak again.

“I’d, uh,” he stammered out. “I’d like to meet your friend’s kid.”

Koushi gasped. He held his hands next to his mouth and then shook Daichi’s shoulder. “Tobio wants _friends_!”

Tobio’s face went beet red as he ate the rest of his dinner. He huffed and pouted and grumbled about his day but ne never revoked his statement about meeting the other kid. Hell, Daichi didn’t even know the kids name, (Shou-tan definitely did _not_ count, Shou could be short for anything. His name might even be Shou, for all Daichi knew,) but to see Tobio happy about meeting someone was a near first and Daichi was all over Tobio having someone to talk about volleyball with. Daichi was immensely proud that he had found someone to be friends with Tobio, and for all he knew, more friends for him and Koushi. God knows that Koushi wants more friends in his “Pretty Setter Squad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for those of you wondering why akaashi calls bokuto + shouyo "kou-tan" and "shou-tan" its because of his sister. who will be introduced. eventually.  
> also. did u catch the pokemon reference?


	2. shining smiles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Although Daichi and Koushi have the best of intentions, there is nothing that can stop a shining smile from flying into someones life.

Tobio happened to be very, very impatient. He spent his school days waiting to get home, and spent his time at home waiting to play volleyball. (Or eat. Or sleep. It was a matter of timing, really.) His father told him that over the weekend Bokuto-Akaashi-san’s kid would come over to play volleyball with him. This made Tobio even more impatient.

And, because of this impatience, Tobio spent the week leading up to his play date with Bokuto-Akaashi-san’s son eating, sleeping, and playing volleyball. Not much unlike his usual weeks, but now with more purpose.

On the Friday before he was to meet “Shou-tan,” his father came up to him with a stern expression.

“Now, Tobio,” Daichi said. “How are you going to act with Shou tomorrow?”

Tobio was thoroughly confused. Shou wasn’t going to be like Kunimi-kun or Kindachi-kun, who only tolerated Tobio, he was going to be nice. Shou could spike his tosses, Father said so.

“Like... Normal?” Tobio said. He didn’t see a reason to be any different. His dad slid by and put a hand on his father’s shoulder.

“Tobio, show us your smiling face!” He cooed.

Tobio smiled as bright as he could. He tried copying his dad’s smile.

Koushi leaned down in from of Tobio with an usually serious look on his face. “Honey, don’t do that while Shou is over.”

“Oh.” Tobio really didn’t understand, but his dad was a certified people person, so he trusted his judgement. Tobio Sawamura would not smile the whole time Shou Bokuto-Akaashi was over.

That seemed like a very odd request.

Daichi’s phone rang and he shot up. He answered it quickly. “Hello? Oh, Bokuto-Akaashi-san! Hello, hello.”

Koushi pushed Tobio back to his room, where the young setter happily tossed his volleyball against the wall. Fifteen minutes later, the doorbell rang and Tobio peeked his head out of his room.

There he was, in the flesh, one of the top-rated spikers in the world, Bokuto-Akaashi Koutaro. Behind him must’ve been his husband, Keiji-san, and the kid between them.... Shou.

Daichi went up and shook hands with Keiji-san before formally inviting them into their house. They all slipped off their shoes and were guided into the living space. Tobio watched them all closely from the stairs.

The child with them had crazy orange hair and bright brown eyes. He nearly bounced off the walls with boundless energy. Koutaro-san seemed to edge him on, keeping him motivated with “yes!”s and “awesome”s. Keiji-san, on the other hand kept them both under control, with a calming hand on Koutaro-san’s back and another on Shou’s shoulder.

Tobio crawled down the stairs and rushed to hide behind his father. Daichi chuckled softly.

“This is my son, Tobio. Say hi, Tobio.”

“Hi Tobio.” He said quietly.

Koutaro-san laughed loudly. It rang around the house and filled it with his noise. Keiji-san held a hand to his mouth and laughed himself. Shou came up to him and held his hand out.

“Hello! My name is Bokuto-Akaashi Shouyou and I’m a first year at Yukigaoka Junior High!”

Tobio grabbed his hand. “Tobio Sawamura. First year at Kitagawa Daiichi.”

Shouyou whistled. “Woah, that’s a powerhouse school!”

Kageyama bowed slightly on impulse. “Thankyou.” He said. A bit too quickly, in fact.

Keiji-san smiled. “You are very polite, Tobio-kun.”

“ThankyouverymuchBokuto-Akaashi-san.”

“You don’t have to be so formal, Tobio-kun. It may be easier for you to call me Keiji-san.”

“Ah, then can I call you Keiji-san too?” Koushi mused.

“I don’t see why not,” Keiji agreed. The two of them sat across each other on a very comfortable couch and suck into a pleasant conversation. Daichi sat quietly next to Koushi and rubbed small circles across his hand. Kotarou vibrated next to Keiji and added a small bit of flavor to Koushi and Keiji’s otherwise calm conversation.

Tobio frowned. He turned to not-Shou-actually-Shouyou. “We have a big enough yard to play volleyball, do you want to play?”

Shouyou’s eye’s lit up. “Do I ever!”

They rushed into the backyard and Tobio listened to his his parents had said, no smiling, not at all, but it was really hard when he had finally found someone who wanted to play volleyball with him. Tobio snatched his well-used volleyball off the ground and threw it at Shouyou.

“Tobio-kun.” Shouyou said. “My Papa said that you’re a setter.”

Tobio nodded slowly.

“Can you toss to me?”

Tobio nodded once, twice, three times. Shoyou threw the ball above Tobio’s head and ran. Tobio snatched into his hands and tossed it straight to Shouyou’s waiting hands. The ginger seemed to stutter, the ball falling out from his and and onto the ground. His feet fell flat on the ground with a thud.

“You....”

Tobio gulped. Had he smiled? Did he scare his new friend already?

“You’re so cool!” Shouyou jumped high in the air. He jumped around Tobio a few times while the other boy stood there, shocked. A faint smile crossed his face before he screwed it down into a more neutral face.

“Hey, you almost smiled!” Shouyou said.

“Sorry, I know I shouldn’t.” Tobio said.

“What’s that about? Everyone should smile. Dad says so.” Shouyou puffed up his chest. He put the volleyball in between his feet and crossed his arms. “So. Smile.”

Tobio smiled. He tried imagining his dad’s face, and how bright it looks whenever Tobio does well on an English test.

Shouyou laughed. Tobio’s heart fell right into his stomach.

“No, no, no, not like that!” Shouyou said. “Like this!”

He smiled brightly, like a thousand wild suns had just popped up around him and decided that reflecting off his teeth. Now that was a smile.

Tobio tried again. He tried copying Shouyou’s bright, happy exterior. The shining suns all reflecting off him. Shouyou shook his head.

“Not like that.” Shouyou put a hand on his chin. “Oh, I know! Stop thinking about it so much. Just feel it. Don’t copy me or anyone else.”

Tobio shrugged. He tried again. Shouyou shook his head. “Maybe we can work on it later. Toss to me again. And if you want to smile, smile! I don’t care if it’s scary or not.”

Shouyou threw the ball at Tobio and the darker haired boy tossed it gently, yet powerfully, back into Shouyou’s grip. He spiked it against the wall, and Tobio’s face lit up instinctively. He tried, for a moment, to put it back down, but he remembered that Shouyou didn’t care. Said boy picked the ball up again and threw it to Tobio, and they tossed and spiked for a long, easy time. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> firstly- I'm so sorry for the delay! I was in my hometown for a while and got really behind on schoolwork, and then finals -- you know the gist. Hopefully I can get this set up on a regular uploading schedule, since all the chapters are pretty short.  
> secondly- I wanted to do a tobio chapter really badly so here have my son not smiling because his parents have the best intentions but u kno if tobes smiles for real he has the CUTEST smile my little egg roll i love him also i swear i will get to kenma/kuroo/hiromi Very Soon there just needs to be some buildup.  
> thirdly- according to ao3, this is uploading on my birthday! yay! (although in my time zone it's still the 19th... I'll take it tho."


	3. a little backstory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keiji learns, a little.

The next day, after his train ride to the bus stop, Keiji met up with Sawamura again. He waved awkwardly and Sawamura rushed over to him. 

“Hey, Bokuto-Akaashi-san!” He grinned. “How’re you?” 

“Very well, Sawamura-san. Thank you for asking.” Keiji replied. 

“So I talked to Tobio last night,” Sawamura begins, and Keiji really doesn’t know what it means. 

“Yes?” 

“He really wants to meet up with Shou.” Sawamura said, still a little confused on how to say his son’s name. 

“I’m sure Shouyou would love that,” Keiji said. Sawamura sighed a little. So he wanted to know Shouyou’s name, good. 

“Yeah! Do you want to set something up?” Daichi asked. 

Keiji shifted on his feet and pretended to be thinking hard. Of course Shouyou would want to meet this young setter boy. As much and Keiji loved playing with him, sometimes he was too tired and needed a rest. Keiji grinned as Sawamura got more and more nervous. 

“You know,” Keiji said, ever so slowly. 

“Yes?” Sawamura gutted out. 

“I think we could set something up. Shou-tan would love that, and we’ve got nothing planned tomorrow. Would that be okay?” 

Sawamura smiled and nodded. Their bus ride was rather uneventful, sans the heated discussion about which baby pictures were cuter between Tobio and Shouyou. Keiji still firmly believed that Shouyou was a cuter kid, but the evolution of round-faced, wide-eyed Tobio to the apparent pouty mess made Keiji laugh. 

“You don’t look anything like your kid, Bokuto-Akaashi.” Sawamura commented on the elevator ride. “I mean, at least Koushi and I kind of look like Tobio.”

Keiji breathed out a laugh, “Oh, maybe. But he looks like the spitting image of Koutaro.” 

“Really?” Sawamura said, Keiji nodded and showed him a picture of Koutaro and Shouyou posing from the other day. They both were drenched in sweat and sore to the bone, but smiled bright and wide for the camera. 

“Oh. My. God.” Sawamura said. 

“I know.” Keiji mused. “He has gotten my good habits, however. He always does his homework before playing volleyball with his father and thanks waiters.” 

Sawamura whistled. “Those are some mighty impressive skills there, Bokuto-Akaashi.” 

The elevator dinged for Keiji’s floor as he said “Why yes, I spent a long while helping him out.” 

Keiji pranced into the office feeling as light as air. Each call he made to his writers went smoothly and easily and Keiji felt like the god above were blessing him. At lunch, he opened the carefully made lunchbox for him and smiled when he saw the sticky notes pasted all over it. 

_ Hope you have great day, Keiji!!!!!!!!!!!! _

_ Hi Father! Work hard! (ﾉ^ヮ^)ﾉ*:・ﾟ✧ _

Keiji grinned wider than he had in weeks. His family had made his favorites, per say, but no matter what the two made it was always perfect. 

Michimiya walked by and stopped nearly in her tracks. “What’s got you in such a good mood, Bokuto-Akaashi?” 

“Today has been going very well,” Keiji mused. 

Michimiya sat down on his desk and leaned over towards him. “Care to elaborate?” 

“Sawamura has a child that may love volleyball as muchas Shou-tan, he and Kou-tan made my lunch this morning and it’s brilliant, all of my writers have been very cooperative...” Keiji rambled, and then looked at Michimiya’s grinning face. “Would you like me to go on?” 

“No,” Michimiya said, completely sing-song. “I was just wondering how long it would take before you met Sawamura.” 

Keiji tilted his head. “How do you mean?” 

She leaned back. “I went to school with Sawamura, had a crush on him, even. He was never apart from Sugawara.” 

Michimiya shook her head. “Well, I guess he’s a Sawamura too, now. But they stuck together like glue. They teamed up against poor Azumane all the time and acted like the parents of their volleyball team back on Karasuno.” 

Keiji gaped. “Karasuno? That’s where Shouyou wants to go.” 

“That’s great! It’s an amazing school, and the boy’s volleyball team is to die for.” Michimiya grinned. Her eyes fell on a nearby clock for a moment and she leaped off Keiji’s desk. “Sorry, Bokuto-Akaashi, gotta jet. I’m meeting with Yamamoto-san in five.”

“Good luck,” Keiji called after her. 

He sat, quietly eating, for a while and reminisce. He’d finished all his work for the day early, so he might as well take the rest of the day off. He sent an email to his boss, documenting each thing he had accomplished, and was given the green light to go home. 

He felt a little lonely as he rode the train back in silence. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im eventually going to just chuck this whole thing into one work, so this is here as a mediator between the chapter before and after it, which is why it's kind of short.


	4. sweet like sugar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pretty setters deserve to be acknowledged.

Koushi slid a small cup of tea over to Keiji-san. The dark haired man took a quiet sip of it. Daichi and Koutaro-san had gotten into a slightly heated conversation about volleyball and their high school experiences. Their loud conversation echoed through the house, and the occasional slam of a volleyball against the house wall made for very difficult talks.

However, Keiji-san and Koushi were well-versed in the act of talking through the clatter, and managed to get a few words out to each other.

“So, Keiji-san,” Koushi started, his eyebrows raised. “You work with Dai-chan, right?”

Keiji nodded. “In a way. We’re in the same building, and get off work at the same time. We even ride the same train.”

Koushi’s mouth made a cute ‘o.’ “How convenient! You two were meant to be friends.”

Keiji smiled in agreement. “It seems so.” He stared into his cup before speaking again. “You were a setter in school, correct?”

“Indeed, I run my own Pretty Setter Squad with Oikawa Tooru-kun.” Koushi grinned.

Keiji paused and gave Koushi a long, serious look. “Oikawa Tooru?”

Koushi nodded. “Oikawa Tooru.”

Keiji grabbed on to Koutaro’s shirt sleeve and pulled him down. He whispered in his ear and Koutaro’s face exploded with joy.

A sly smile spread across Keiji’s face as his husband exploded with glee. Koutaro raced out the house and threw the back door open. (He apologized quietly afterwards, feigning regret.) He poked his head out, and both children seemed suprised by the outburst.

“Shou-kun! The Sawamuras know Oikawa Tooru!” Koutaro screeched. He was like some hyperactive owl, the way he fluttered around the house making silly noises.

Shouyo, on the other hand, made a high pitched caw. “Tobio-kun! You didn’t tell me you knew Oikawa Tooru!”

The other adults crowded next to the sliding door. Tobio’s face scrunched up in distaste, and Koushi suppressed a laugh. Tobio would get embarrassed if Koushi let out anything more than that.

“Yes, I know Tooru-san.” He said. The boy turned his face away from the prying eyes.

Bokuto squawked again. “First name basis!” He turned to Koushi. “How well do you know him?”

Koushi flipped his short hair. He giggled, and said merely, “Pretty Setter Squad.”

Kotarou turned his head sharply to Keiji. “You have to join the Pretty Setter Squad.”

Keiji burst out laughing. Koutaro hovered around him, a strange mixture of joy for the laughter and confusion as to why his husband was laughing apparent on his face. Keiji rested a hand on Koutaro’s shoulder while the other covered his laughing mouth.

“Honey, if you really want me to,” he managed to choke out.

Tobio shooed the adults away, claiming he and Shouyo needed quality practice time, and all the dads were being silly.

Koushi, for one, had to agree.

They made their way back to the living space, and Keiji finally managed to get over his laughing fit. Daichi and Koutaro’s squabble was a thing of the past, and now the two seemed to just be reminiscing over their old captain days together.

Keiji leaned forward and placed his gentle chin atop strong, gentle hands. To be fair, if Koushi wasn’t married, he’d probably go for Keiji. Koushi quickly shooed such thoughts from his mind, what if Keiji was a mind reader??

“So, what does one do as a member of the Pretty Setter Squad?” He asked. Dang, Keiji was irrationally pretty. He’d give Tooru a run for his money.

“Go to coffee shops, make Oikawa buy all the expensive coffee, gossip about work?” Koushi offered.

“Make the ex volleyball player turned model pay for our drinks? Sounds like my kind of party.” Keiji mused.

“Tooru is hoping that Tobio will grow up and one day be able to join us in the Pretty Setter Squad, but for now it’s just us two.” Koushi said. As much as Tooru didn’t like it, he was a pretty good mentor for Tobio. And the kid sort of idolized him. If his mind wasn’t so full of volleyball, he probably would have become a model instead.

“I have another setter friend,” Keiji added. “He’s pretty too, but in a more unconventional way. Shouyo loves him.”

“Oh?”

“His name is Kenma, and spends most of his time sulking around game stores nowadays,” Keiji said. When he saw the shock on Koushi’s face, he reworded. “In a good way. He just really likes video games.”

Koushi thought for a minute. “How about I call up Tooru and ask about dates first, and if you think Kenma-san would enjoy it, you can invite him on the second time we go out!”

“Are you implying that I’d like it?”

“I’m implying that you’ll love it.”

Keiji made a long “ah” sound before settling into a staring contest with Koushi. Well, Koushi hoped it was a staring contest, because Keiji’s eyes are really pretty and he hoped he didn’t get too lost in them.

Daichi cleared his throat. Both Keiji and Koushi looked up. It was a staring contest, thank god.

“So, Koushi, I was wondering if you knew when Tobio and Shou-kun could meet up again? They’ve been out there for a long time, and don’t plan on coming back in...” Daichi said. That was also probably an excuse to get this whole group together again.

“Soon...” Koushi purred out. “Although, I do think that the first Pretty Setter Squad plus Bokuto-Akaashi-san should come first. It’s a very important event, being in our club.”

“You sound like a bunch of teenagers,” Daichi laughed.

“We are, at heart,” Koushi agreed.

The sun started to dip into the horizon, and as much as they all disliked it, the Bokuto-Akaashis did need to go home. They had a bullet train to catch, and Tobio has to study for an English test he had. Before they left, Tobio crawled up into his room and grabbed his phone. A crummy flip phone with a volleyball strap, but it was only to be used and emergencies. Koushi reasoned that texting your new best friend was enough  of an emergency.

Shouyo nodded and they exchanged email addresses.

“I’ll mail you, kay?” Tobio said.

“Tell me about Oikawa-san!” Shouyo replied.

Koushi laughed and ruffles Tobio’s hair. The boy pouted, but waved politely as the Bokuto-Akaashis left the house. Shouyo was nearly screaming, proclaiming that he’d definitely, _definitely_ see Tobio by the end of next week.

Tobio looked up to his dad, expectantly.

“We’ll see how our Pretty Setter date goes, m’kay?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes! i consider tobio a pretty setter he's just... 2 young to be one in this setting.  
> also. iwaoi incoming? kuroken incoming? when will i get to hiromi? no one knows.  
> side note, surprising lack of daichi despite this being a more koushi-centric chapter. i'll try to fix that in the future?  
> hmu on seacanaryy.tumblr.com and talk to me about parent aus


	5. nee-san

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Although constantly prepared, Keiji gets nervous sometimes.

Keiji considered himself a very prepared person. He prepared his lunch every morning (and one for Koutaro, and another for Shouyo, every morning), he prepared for Koutaro’s mood swings, and for Shouyo's endless energy.  For once, he felt that assured preparedness falter.

How was he supposed to act around a literal _model._ How he usually does? More poliet? More casual? His mind was racing, and from the concerned looks from the rest of his family, Keiji assumed it showed on his face.

Koutaro dropped his chin on Keiji’s shoulder and stared up at him. Keiji pulled in a deep breath. He might just call Koushi-kun for what he should do. He had gotten his phone number, of course, for dates and times. Keiji was a very prepared person.

Koutaro hummed loudly. The hum slowly turned into a groan He pulled his head off Keiji’s shoulder and wandered over to the couch. He fell like a tree onto it and groaned again. The worry fled from Keiji as he followed his husband to the couch.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving me!” He whined.

Keiji rubbed circles and Koutaro’s back. While he stared at his husband’s frowning face, a thought came to him. A solution to Koutaro’s pouting, and another to soothe his worrying.

“Why don’t I drop you and Shou-tan at Kuroo-san’s while I’m gone? You can play volleyball and think of puns to send to me.” Keiji said. Koutaro’s eyes widened as he searched for words. He nodded, slowly.

“I’ll call Testu right now!” Koutaro stood up and raced for the phone.

Keiji smiled and pulled out his mobile. He scrolled to his contacts until he got to “Nee-san.”

He dialed and heard the faint excited yells from his husband.

“Ooh my god, Kei-tan!” His sister squealed. “You haven’t called me in ages!”

“It’s been a week, Nee-san.” Keiji retorted.

Hiromi scoffed. “Please, that was to ask if I could watch that hyperactive ball of sunshine you’ve got. So what’s up, little brother?”

“I have a date today,” he said slowly, mapping out his words in his head before speaking.

He heard Hiromi shoot up. “You-you’re not cheating on my little Kou-tan, are you?!”

Keiji retraced his words. “No, it’s just to see some friends. One of them is going to bring his model friend along.”

Hiromi hummed. “Yeah, I see why you called me now, little brother.”

“I am in a predicament.” Keiji said.

“You know what you gotta do, right?” Hiromi said. Her voice was nearly as animated as Koutaro's. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing!”

Keiji gulped. “No, you’ve got to be kidding. It’s Oikawa Tooru. Look him up.”

He heard his sister wander around her apartment and type something up on her computer. “Oh, he’s cute!”

“Yes, I agree,” Keiji said. “And he’s known for being.... eccentric.”

“He’s a diva?” Hiromi asked.

“In a word, yes.”

Hiromi hummed again. She thought a bit longer this time. “I’m gonna keep to my word. You’re too pretty without trying, and if you tell him that, he’s gonna get jealous and want to be your friend.”

“Do you think he’s that petty of a person?” Keiji asked.

Hiromi nodded. Her hair brushed up against the receiver and made a terrible sound. “I know he’s that petty of a person. I watch America’s Next Top Model.”

“Hiromi, why are you watching American shows again?”

“Because there was a really cute boy this season. He won!! How cool is that, right?” Hiromi mused. “He was deaf, too. I’m happy for him!”

Hiromi was getting off topic again. “Sister, I understand, but that’s not the issue here.”

“Not the issue? You need to be prepared for his drama, Keiji. He’s gonna talk about bad shoots and cute people. I don’t know if he’s gay or whatever, be prepared for anything.” Hiromi said. She liked to think she’s the smartest person in Keiji’s life, and he often let her believe that.

“Thank you, Hiromi.” Keiji said. He tried to insinuate that he was done and thankful for her advice, but once his sister got on a roll, she would never stop talking.

“You are so welcome, Kei-tan! Okay, big sister’s got some work to do now, so go run off and play dress up with you new model friend, m’kay?” Hiromi cooed. Her work was mostly fashion spreads and make-up lines, so she was well-versed in model affairs.

“Okay, Hiromi. See you soon.” Keiji said, then hung up. He stared at his cell for a minute before he stood up.

Shou-tan turned to him. The little eavesdropper...

“Was that Auntie Hiromi?” He asked.

“Yes, it was.” Keiji said. Shou-tan climbed over the couch and cuddled up next to his father. “Did you want to talk to her?”

“A little. Dad says we’re going to Uncle Kuroo’s while you talk to Oikawa-san. Is that true?” Shou-tan asked, a little light in his eye.

“Yes, it is.” Keiji smiled. “Are you excited to see Kozume-san again?”

“Yeah! I love Kenma, he’s my favorite uncle!” Shou-tan grinned brightly.

Keiji ruffled his hair. “I’m glad. But don’t tell Uncle Kuroo that, he’ll get jealous. You’re his favorite nephew.”

Shou-tan hopped over the couch again and ran at his dad. Keiji heard a grunt and then furious laughter as Koutaro was tackled to the ground. Keiji just shook his head and sent a message to Koushi.

**_Be there soon, I have to drop off the husband and child at a friends house._ **

A few minutes later, the received a reply.

**_What are they twelve? Daddy gotta drop them off? (ᗒᗨᗕ)_ **

Keiji laughed out loud. Koutaro stood up and tried to lean over Keiji’s shoulder to see what he was looking at.

“It’s nothin you need to see, dear.” Keiji said as he pushed his husband’s face away.

“But you’re laughing! And I love it when you laugh, so I wanna see what made you laugh so I can copy it!” Koutaro said with such earnest it forced a small heat to rise to Keiji’s face.

“It was just Koushi-kun making a bad joke, don’t worry about it.” Keiji said and kissed Koutaro, missing his mouth by a few centimeters. He kissed back and actually made it to the right spot, and they both giggled for a few minutes between kisses.

Shou-tan groaned loudly, and whined about wanting to see Kenma as soon as possible. They broke apart between more laughter and Keiji asked Shou-tan to get the keys. He gladly ran to get the keys to escape his parent’s ridiculous kissing.

By the time the boy got back his parents were ready to get in the car and head off to Kuroo and Kozume’s. Shouyou was buzzing with excitement the whole ride over.

“Do you think Kenma got a new game?” He asked.

Koutaro turned around. “Yeah, Kuroo said he did! The new Tales game.”

Shou-tan squawked. “Oh, man! But I didn’t get to see the end of Tales of Xillia!”

“Maybe he’ll finish it for you and then move on to the new one?” Keiji says, feigning interest. He was still rather concerned with the Pretty Setter Squad meetup. God, they are going to have to change that name...

“Kenma never goes back on a game! Once he’s done with it, he won't play it again...” Shou-tan complained.

Koutaro shook his head. “No, you’re his favorite nephew. He’d do it for you, he’d even let you land the final blow.”

The boy’s eyes lit up. “You think so?”

“I know so,” Koutaro nodded.

Keiji smiled and made the last few turns to Kuroo-san’s house. The instant he pulled next to the house he saw Kuroo-san bolt out of the house. As Keiji went to park, Koutaro yanked the door open and flung himself at his friend.

“Bokuto!” Kuroo screamed.

“Kuroo!” Koutaro yelled back, pulling his friend into a tight hug. Kozume leaned out of the door and motioned for Shouyou to come inside. The boy turned to his father for a moment.

“Yes, go ahead already. I’ll call you when I head out.” Keiji said.

Shouyou squealed and bolted inside the house. Keiji watched for a few seconds as Kuroo and Koutaro retreated into the house, most likely to pester Kozume and Shouyou. Mostly Kozume.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im trying... to stretch out the chapter lengths.... bit by bit...  
> 


	6. gossip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oikawa Tooru is not a genius. However, his couch is really, really comfortable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i kept typing "toory" instead of "tooru" the whole time while writing this.  
> also. this is a majorly dialogue heavy chapter so if it's not ur thing im sorry

Koushi had texted Keiji the address fifteen minutes prior of meeting up with Tooru. He cruised over to the model’s house in his minivan full of kid supplies and empty Starbucks cups. Tooru’s house was posh, clean, and tidier than a scandal case. 

Koushi parked outside and rang the doorbell to Tooru’s house. It took a second for the model to rush out of his house with open arms. Koushi took them gladly and spun around in circles. 

“Oh! My! God! Koushi! How are you?” Tooru smiled. 

Koushi shrugged. “I’ve been pretty good! You got my texts about our new Pretty Setter, right?” 

Tooru nodded vigorously. “Bokuto-Akaashi Keiji. I googled him, he’s definitely qualified.” 

“When Dai-chan came home and said he met a pretty book editor I thought it was something straight out of Sekaiichi Hatsukoi.” Koushi said. The two wandered into Tooru’s overly plush house and flopped into an overly plush couch with a loud whoosh. 

Tooru let out an airy laugh. “Why would you watch Sekaiichi? It’s so bad.” 

“I want to keep that stuff out of Tobio’s mind. He doesn’t need toxic relationships like that in his life. Sekaiichi and Junjou are good examples.” 

“Good examples? Please, Usagi isn’t even hot. Compared to my Iwa-chan, no man, no matter how rich, could ever steal my heart away.” Tooru said proudly. 

“Iwa-chan? After all these years, it’s still Iwa-chan.” Koushi raised an eyebrow. 

Tooru flustered. “It’s a habit, okay? I can’t go around calling him Hajime-chan on shoots, someone might get the wrong idea.”

“Isn’t the wrong idea the right idea?” Koushi rebuttled. Tooru huffed and stood up. 

“Want anything from the kitchen?” 

“Still got that lemon bread?”

“You know it.” 

“That then, please.” 

While waiting for Tooru to come back with the lemon bread and some tea, undoubtedly, Koushi pulled out his phone and fiddled around with it. He checked his Twitter -- something a 30-odd year old teacher with a kid probably shouldn't have -- and saw the usual. Idol updates, a few new art pieces, and some American artist Koushi followed purely because Tobio liked him. He saved a few pictures to show to him later. 

Tooru came back in with lemon bread and tea, just like Koushi expected. He leaned against Koushi and  whined. “Listen, Koushi, you gotta tell me what eagle eyes is like in real life. He has a kid, right? Does he look like it?” 

Koushi shook his head. “No, no, he looks like a literal angel. His eyes are like windows to some deep ocean that I could get lost in every day.” 

Tooru whined even louder. “You- you’re kidding. Could he be a better model than me?” 

“In a heartbeat.” 

Tooru screamed at the top of his lungs. Koushi just laughed and laughed at his friend's anguish over the newest pretty setter. 

“Oh.” Koushi took a quick look at the clock. “Twenty minutes, we’ve got to meet Mister Eagle Eyes.”

“Are we walking or taking the five minute drive?” Tooru asked. He looked up to Koushi with his large, adorable, brown doe eyes. He apparently didn’t want to walk. Koushi smiled deviously. 

“Oh, Tooru, you know,” Koushi mused. “You do know, as a married man, I am more prone to weight gain.”

Tooru’s face went white as a sheet. “No.” 

“You’ve said I’ve been gaining weight yourself. What’s a great way to lose weight. Walking.” Koushi stood up and walked to the doorway. Each step he took made a loud, confident sound against the hardwood floor. Oh, how Koushi loved that sound. 

Koushi slipped on his shoes and waited by the door. He heard Tooru crawl off the couch and slump over to the door. He put on designer shoes, fixed his expensive make up, adjusted his designer clothes and made himself look as posh as possible. 

Koushi screwed his face up. “We’re walking for fifteen minutes.”

“It’s waterproof,” Tooru responded. “And I don’t sweat. I’m a model.”

Tooru locked up the house and skipped next to Koushi. He grinned brightly with his hair flopping on top of his head. 

“You’re unnecessarily cute, Tooru.” Koushi grumbled. 

“I know, it’s my job,” Tooru quipped. “My management says I should try glasses sometime. They say it brings out my innocent charm. Whaddya think? Square or circular?” 

Koushi made a turn towards the cafe. “Square. Circular would make you look like a dork. Not like you’re not usually a dork.” 

Tooru groaned loudly. He quickly changed the subject to Iwaizumi and how even though he got a stupid office job that doesn’t amount to anything he somehow still manages to look amazingly handsome. 

Koushi countered that his husband worked an office job and always looked on his top form. Tooru said it was irrelevant, Daichi was just good at counting calories. 

“We don’t count calories,” Koushi said. 

“You should. Oh, look, we’re here!” Tooru cheered. He ran up to one of the waitresses and smiled brightly. The waitress smiled and got a table outside for them, under an umbrella covered in flower print. 

Koushi felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out and let out a short laugh. 

Tooru leaned over to peek at Koushi’s phone. “Oh my god, what are they, 12?” 

Koushi nudged him. “From the way Koutaro-san acted when he was over earlier, I wouldn’t be surprised if he needed a friend to console in.”

“So when’s he getting here?” Tooru asked. 

“Five minutes, maybe? He brought a car.” Koushi said. He tapped through his phone and checked his twitter again. Tooru saw and frowned. 

“You still haven’t followed me, have you?” 

“‘Course not.” Tooru pouted. “Everything you’d put on your twitter you text at me. It would be like having two of you.” 

Tooru groaned. “You are so rude, Koushi.” 

Maybe he was, but Koushi was  _ not _ going to follow Tooru on twitter. However pretty he was, the amount of selfies he can take in one  day is a lot lower than what Tooru takes. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Koushi sees Keiji approach. He nudges Tooru and nods his head in Keiji’s direction. The new member looked a bit flustered as he came and sat down next to Koushi and Tooru. Just in a white button-up and slacks, Keiji still managed to look as good as possible with little to no effort. 

“Hi there,” Tooru cooed. He held out his hand.“Oikawa Tooru. Pleasure to meet you!” 

“Bokuto-Akaashi Keiji. The pleasure is mine, I assure you.” 

“Oh please, Bokuaka-chan, with how pretty you are?” Tooru smiled. “I’m having all the fun in the world.” 

Keiji looked irked for a fraction of a second when Tooru said “boku” but the instant he added the “aka” all tenseness fled from him. He smiled lightly. “You flatter me, Oikawa-san.” 

Tooru leaned forward on his pretty little hands. “So, what do you do?” 

“I’m a book editor.” Keiji says. He averted his eyes away from Tooru and flushed. It seems he wasn’t prepared for how pretty Tooru is in real life. 

“Oh, what kinds of books! I’ll read them if you’re the mastermind behind them.” Tooru mused. 

Keiji waved the thought away. “No, I just make sure that they get to publishers on time, and maybe fix pacing a bit. The ones I edit are usually adventure. They’re as fun to edit as they are to read.” 

Tooru tilted his head a bit. “Any aliens?” 

Keiji chuckled. “One author who was writing a high-fantasy novel called me one day and said “It was aliens the whole time,” I told her that there’s no way that would work and she begrudgingly changed it.”

Tooru pondered the thought. “I would have read it.” 

“He would,” Koushi interjected. “No one knows, but million dollar model Oikawa Tooru is an alien conspirist.” 

Keiji whistled. “Good to know. Time to ruin Shou-tan’s expectations.”  

Tooru gasped. “Oh! Do I have a secret admirer?”

Keiji made a few assorted motions. “In a way. He heard of you back in the volleyball days, and he loves Tobio, and you’re a weird proxy to Tobio, so...” 

Tooru’s entire facial expression dropped. “Tobio? He likes Tobio.”

“He talks about him all the time and sends him more text messages than he does his Uncle Kenma. And he loves his Uncle Kenma to death.” 

Koushi nodded. “All Tobio does is look at his phone nowadays. It’s an emergency phone too. He shouldn’t be using it that much!” He laughed a bit. He was still glad that Tobio actually had a friend he enjoyed talking to that much. 

“I apologize on Shou-tan’s behalf.” Keiji said, a bit embarrassed. 

“No, no, it’s fine. Tobio needs more friends.” Koushi said. 

Tooru huffed. “You could say that again.  He never talks to anyone, and whenever I come over he runs up to me and asks if I can teach him how to jump serve. He’s like, twelve, I can’t put his knee under that kind of stress.” 

Keiji hummed. Koushi assumed that he didn’t know about the whole knee incident.... Which might have been for the best. Tooru didn’t tell many people about the knee thing to begin with. It was maybe Koushi himself, Daichi by extension, and Iwaizumi. Three whole people. 

Keiji wasn’t learning that story any time soon. 

Tooru tipped off his shoulder and sipped at the tea a waitress had brought by a while ago. A silence fell over the three for a second while they nursed their drinks and asked for more food. Keiji’s phone buzzed and the whole table jumped. 

“Husband?” Tooru cooed out. 

Keiji shook his head. “Nope. It’s Sho-tan....” He let out a short laugh once he opened the text. Koushi and Tooru leaned over and saw Shouyou posed in front of someone with dyed blond hair, and probably needed his roots done soon. Said pudding head’s hair was covered in cute little anime clips and he didn’t even seem to care. They stared at a PSVita like their life depended on it. 

Before Koushi could comment, Tooru interjected. “Who’s the pudding head?”

“Shouyou’s Uncle Kenma. He’s... a little antisocial, but Shouyou loves him more than anything.” Keiji supplied. 

“Ginger is your kid then, huh?” Tooru said through lidded eyes. “He’s cute. Cuter than Tobio, that’s for sure.”

Koushi hit the back of Tooru’s head in a heartbeat. “Don’t be so rude, Tooru. My little Tobio-chan is the cutest little champ on the planet.” 

Keiji looked like he was about to retort, but kept his mouth shut. “Anyway, that’s where I dropped him and Kou-tan at. A family friend’s house.” 

“How could Koutaro get all his energy out with someone who’s attached to his Vita?” Koushi asked. From his experience with Koutaro, the only reason he wasn’t bouncing off the walls was because Daichi could keep him reined in with captain talk. 

“Oh, Kenma’s....” Keiji searched for the words. “Babysitter? They’re not dating, as far as I know, but they live together and take care of each other, and have known each other since they were little.” 

Tooru nodded. “Sounds like a partner to me.”

“Hm... That sounds shockingly similar to your relationship with Iwaizumi....” Koushi muttered. 

Now it was Koushi’s turn to get hit upside the head. “Iwa-chan loves me. He told me so. Last night, even.” 

Keiji leaned over to Koushi. “Iwaizumi?”

“Tooru’s boyfriend for over 5 years. It started in what -- second year of college? The instant they separated they needed to be together again. They’re stuck like glue. Well. More like Tooru is stuck like glue to Iwaizumi.” 

“Excuse you, Koushi, my Iwa-chan is just as stuck to me as I am to him. See, here. Let’s take a selfie. I bet he’ll respond in two seconds.” 

Koushi shook his head but posed for the camera anyway. He pulled Keiji a bit closer to him and the new setter smiled sheepishly. Tooru took the picture and added a filter or two, commenting on which one might bring out his and “Bokuka-chan’s” eyes the most. 

“His eyes aren’t even the same color as yours.” Koushi said. “They’re closer to mine.” 

“Yeah but that’s why I said his and mine. If mine look good in the filter you’re going to look drop-dead gorgeous.” Tooru responded without even looking up from his phone. 

“Was that a compliment?” Keiji asked.

“No clue.” Koushi said. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whenever I write for oikawa i always? end up rambling? this is a mess.  
> side note: after oikawa sends the selfie to iwa-chan keiji asks for it to send to hiromi. oikawa nearly faints.  
> n idk if anyone will notice but this seems? longer than earlier chapters altho that might just be because of all the dialogue.


	7. competition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shouyou loses.

There was a loud thud from across the house. Koutaro was tempted to sprint across to find Shouyou and ask what was wrong, but  Kuroo had a hard grip on his arm and didn’t plan on letting go any time soon. The screen flashed with another scene from the horror movie they decided on. 

Kuroo looked over lazily. “Dude, you are way too jumpy.” He reached into a nearby popcorn bowl and threw some in his mouth. He missed. 

“I am not. I’m just a dad, it happens.” Koutaro retorted. He was being a little jumpy. “Maybe we could go check on them?”

“Are you kidding? Kenma isn’t three years old. He can take care of himself.” Kuroo said. 

Koutaro slowly turned back to the movie and slumped into his beanbag. His face had fallen, his eyes wandered far away from the television screen, and he just looked all around bored. 

Kuroo stood up. He grabbed Koutaro by the arm and dragged him to Kenma and Shouyou. The young boy had stood up nearly jumped into the ceiling. Kenma was still on the ground staring at a small television screen with Super Smash Brothers Melee on. His eyes were wide and unblinking. 

Shouyou was losing really badly. He was down three stocks and his current damage percent was 208. Kenma still had all three lives and 100%. Shouyou was playing Roy and Kenma Kirby. 

Koutaro gawked. “Is it usually like this?”

Kuroo rolled his eyes. “How many times have you been here? It’s always like this.” 

Koutaro sat close behind Kenma. Shouyou’s energy lessened a bit and he sat in his dad’s lap. Kuroo laid out behind both of them, his leg propped up and his hand on his waist. Shouyou slammed on random buttons and hopped frantically around the screen, but Roy was too heavy and came crashing back down to earth. 

Kenma stalked underneath and sucked Roy into Kirby’s mouth. Shouyou made a loud, distressed sound as Kenma leaped off the edge. Koutaro hollered. Kenma was killing himself with Roy inside? He’s going to lose his life! 

Before Kirby fell off the stage he shot Roy out. Shouyou had left his controller on the ground during the whole endeavor. Roy lamely fell down off the stage as the game announcer yelled “GAME.”

“Kenma-saaaaaaaaan.” Shouyou wailed. “I can’t beat you when you play Kirby. Play your worst character.” 

“Captain Falcon?” Kenma said. A small light shone in his eye.

“I’ll play Zelda and you can play Captain Falcon.” Shouyou affirmed. Koutaro hugged his son from behind. He hoped Kenma would lose on purpose so that Shouyou could have a little pride in his life. 

“Sure. Let’s go.” Kenma said. He selected Captain Falcon, Shouyou got Zelda, and they went into the fight. Final Destination. No items, minus the Smash Ball. 

Koutaro held his breath almost the whole time. The match was more even this time, even if it was because whenever Shouyou jumped too high Kenma didn’t follow him into the air. 

They were one stock each. Kenma had just gotten pushed off the edge, Shouyou was nearing 100%. It seemed like a stakeout. The air was tense. Electricity shot through the air as Kenma lunged towards Shouyou. 

Shouyou pouted. He sucked his milkshake with too much whipped cream and a cherry on top. Kenma sat next to him, rubbing circles into his back. 

“What flavor did you get, Shou-kun?” Koutaro asked. He’d gotten just plain vanilla, but Shouyou’s had little cookies in them. 

Shouyou continued to pout. “Cookies and cream.” 

“Sounds good,” Kuroo said. He was scrolling through his Twitter feed. 

Kenma made a quiet sound of agreement. He was tapping away at his PSVita. Why he and Kuroo never got milkshakes, Koutaro would never know. He loved milkshakes. 

“Kenma, I want to face you in Smash Bros. again.” Shouyou said. He still looked sad, but didn’t look like he wanted to give up. 

“Are you sure?” Kenma looked up from his Vita. 

“Yes. And I don’t want a handicap.” Shouyou said firmly. “You didn’t chase me in the air last time. How am I going to learn if you don’t go all out?” 

Kuroo raised his brows. “You’re a little learner, aren’t you?”

Shouyou looked up to him, wide-eyed. “What does that mean?” 

Kuroo grinned his signature, scheming grin. “It means you’re never going to stop trying to learn something new. Eventually, not even Kenma is going to be able to keep up with you.” 

Shouyou lit up. “You think so? I’ll be my own Little Giant?”

“Of course you will, Shou-kun!” Koutaro beamed. “And if you’re lucky, Sawamura-kun will be on your team!” 

“Tobio-kun? Do you think so?” Shouyou asked. 

“I know so. Combine your natural talent, and you’ve got a team that could surpass even me and your father.” Koutaro said. He ruffled his ball of sunshine’s hair and he slurped down the last bit of his milkshake. 

“Okay, Dad! I’m ready to go to Nationals! I mean beat Uncle Kenma in Smash!” Shouyou announced. 

Koutaro smacked his son’s back and nearly made him fall over, but the young fireball didn’t seem deterred.. Koutaro walked over and paid for their drinks before the long stroll back to Kuroo and Kozume’s house. 

They made it out in three secods, and made it back to the KuroKoz household in three minutes. It’s a long walk, Koutaro swears on it. 

They just always manage to sprint back. 

Instead of imedeatly challenging Kenma to Smash, Shouyou decided that he needed to figure out some kind of leverage. He wandered around the house searching for a box. A very specific box. 

In the back corner of the kitchen, hidden behind a cookie jar, was a small, pink, and embroidered box. It was plastic, so the embroidery was all fake, but Koutaro knew exactly what it was when Shouyou brought it out. 

Koutaro whistled. He leaned over to Kuroo and said “I didn’t expect you to leave Hiromi’s awful plastic clips here.” 

“What else are we supposed to do with them?” Kuroo cringed. “They’re awful. If we throw them out the neighbours might think they’re condoms.” 

“How so?” Koutaro asked as he watched Shouyou pull out a bright pink clip and used it to pull Kenma’s hair back. The child giggled wildly, and Kenma didn’t even seem to care. 

“When I got Kenma this video game figure, it came in a little pink box. Kenma opened it and put it up on a shelf in his room, so I went and threw the box out. Our neighbours stared at me the whole walk to the trash can.” 

“You don’t have an indoor trash can?” Koutaro asked as his eyebrow rose in disbelief. 

Kuroo turned his head towards the nearest trash can. It was filled to the brim with takeout.

“Oh.” 

“Yeah.”

“You should take that out.”

“We should.” 

Kuroo never moved. He watched as more and more colorful clips decorated Kenma’s hair. More of them scattered across the separation of his black hair and blond. A small bow clipped behind his ear. Shouyou squealed when he found a little canister of glitter. 

He smeared the glitter underneath Kenma’s eyes and nearly poked him in the eye. Once there was an ample amount of glitter on Kenma’s face, Shouyou walked back to view the beautiful masterpiece on Kenma. 

Shouyou nodded. He pulled out his phone and posed for the camera, showing off his award-winning makeup and hair on Kenma. He didn’t even seem to care. Kenma continued to stare at his Vita like it was his everything. 

Koutaro started to lean forward, maybe getting his fingers into the shot before Shouyou took the picture. 

“Aw, Shou-kun, I wanted to be in that!” He whined. 

“We’ll take another one later, Dad. I want to show Father this.” Shouyou said as he rummaged through his contacts to find Keiji. 

He hit send and giggled. Kuroo turned to Koutaro.”This happen often?”

Koutaro winked. “You know it. Group selfies are a tradition.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **PLACES THIS HERE AND RUNS**  
> im so sososososoosos sorry for the delay! my book has to be completed for school by the end of the month and i have maybe 4k left so i've been chugging along to get that done and havent had any time for this!  
> im sorry if it seems short aaaaaaa  
> also i think i've decided this might be a like,,, fifteen part thing? i have another project that been in the works for ages so after im done with this i'll start that up! but.  
> here it is. thank u for reading!!


	8. kerfuffles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A long, long talk.

After about an hour of lunch talk, Keiji finally brought around the subject of kids. 

“You don’t have any, do you, Oikawa-san?” He asked as politely as he could. 

Oikawa waved him off. “I’m a model, honey. Do you think I could risk ruining this beautiful figure by having a couple of ankle-biters? Besides, me and Iwa-chan are better off as partners.”

Sawamura nudged him affectionately. “That’s a lie, Oikawa. You told me yourself you’d been dreaming about marrying Iwaizumi since you were ten.” He held his hands together and spoke in a sing-song voice. “Oh, Koushi, Iwa-chan would make the best husband! He’s kind and strong and would carry me out bridal style in those gorgeous arms of his!” 

Oikawa flushed and pushed Sawamura away. Keiji laughed into his hand and sighed. He couldn’t really think of an Oikawa Tooru with children running around his feet. He’d only seen Iwaizumi once, but he felt like they made a good pair.

“Who knows,” Keiji said, trying to cheer him up. “Maybe Iwaizumi-san will propose to you.” 

Oikawa scoffed. “As if. Iwa-chan is too gruff to go out and spend hours buying a ring, think up his lines and what he’s going to say, or maybe even get fancy dinner reservations at the place I really like down the street. He’d hold my hand and....”

When Oikawa finally realized that he’d been rambling, he slapped his hands over his mouth. Keiji and Sawamura both gave him knowing looks. 

“No, you shouldn’t get married,” Sawamura cooed. 

“It would be bad for your carrer,” Keiji echoed. 

“Both of you are terrible and I hate you.” Oikaw stuck his tongue out at them.

Sawamura smiled softly. “Seriously, though, have you ever thought about it?” 

“Iwa-chan or children?” Oikawa said. He was pouting, slightly, but the flush still hadn’t totally left his face. 

“Both, I guess.” Sawamura sat on that thought for a moment. Keiji didn’t know if he meant both, but they were kind of tied into each other, in a way. 

Oikawa leaned across the table. He searched around the cafe for words, but just couldn’t seem to find them. 

“It’s okay if you haven’t,” Keiji said. “You don’t have to plan out your entire life at once.”

Oikawa hummed softly. A quiet, if not slightly awkward, silence fell atop them all. The waitress continued to bring them small samplings of food and Oikawa always ate them with the largest grin on his face, but besides that, things felt normal. 

Sawamurajolted as his phone rang. He picked it up, “Hello?” He nodded a few times. “Yeah, yeah.” 

Sawamura let out a long, exasperated sigh and turned to the other two. “Sorry, Tobio needs me. I’ll only be a few minutes.”

“Why is that?” Oikawa asked. “Isn’t your house farther away than that?” 

“I just need to talk to him.” Sawamura reasoned. “Come on, Tooru, please tell me you want to talk to Bokuaka-chan.” 

Oikawa shifted in his seat. Sawamura just laughed and waved him off as he walked away. This left Keiji in a very interesting situation. On the one hand, this gave him an opportunity to talk to Oikawa without Sawamura to buffer him out, and get Hiromi some high quality information on him. She definitely wants that. On the other, Oikawa looked very, very uncomfortable. He ddidn’t want to make him more so.

He opened his mouth. “Oika-”

“Hey, Bokuaka-chan,” Oikawa filled in for him.

Keiji sat on his words. Oikawa was making all the decisions for him. “Yes?”

“Do you really think I should talk to Iwa-chan about...” 

Keiji sighed. “Maybe, but I think you should come up with a new nickname first. You can’t call him “Iwa-chan” if you’re married.” 

Oikawa slapped his hands on his face. “Oh my god. Oh my god, Bokuaka-chan,  you are so right. I-” He hummed. “I can’t think of anything. Hajime-chan seems too long... Hai-chan? Hajichan? That’s kinda funny, actually, it sounds like “Yes grandpa.” I might call him that.” 

Oikawa continues his ramble for another minute or so, Keji trying desperately to learn about his homelife. Besides Iwaizumi, who he appears to live for, he was a volleyball setter in high school and won an award, but after something happened he had to give it up and decided to model. 

“What happened?” Keiji asked, for no particular reason.

“What are you, an interviewer?” Oikawa huffed. “It’s nothing, really, stuff just,” he waved his hands around, “happened.”

Keiji sat back, surprised. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude.”

Oikawa leaned back onto his chair and stared up at clouds that passed by. His frame looked fit, like he should be as a model, but still characteristically thin. Keiji thought that he might ask Hiromi about how beauty standards are. Oikawa probably wasn’t eating enough. 

Keiji turned around and saw Sawamura still speaking on the phone. His face looked flushed and he held his hand over his mouth. Tobio must have been sated, so Daichi was most likely on the phone. 

He looked back at Oikawa, who was still undoubted thinking about Iwaizumi, his face flushed and his mind up in the clouds. Keiji sighed. 

If only Koutaro thought about him like that. 

Keiji pulled out his phone and found Koutaro’s contact. He sent a quick message, adding a heart at the end. 

Oikawa stared at him. When Keiji waved him off, the model stared at his tea cup. 

“Bokuaka-chan, I’m gonna go get Koushi. He spends way too much time when he’s on the phone with Daichi-san. They’re probably doing something dirty.” 

Keiji watched as Oikawa skipped off, looking as chipper as he should. Keiji had a load of mixed feelings pooled up inside of him. Oikawa, on the exterior, was a happy-go-lucky people pleaser with a nice smile and a sing-song voice. At his core, he seemed scared, desperate, and alone. 

Keiji wasn’t sure which one he wanted to get to know more. Maybe he should stop spending so much time with Kenma. 

Sawamura returned with Oikawa dragging his arm, a sight that Keiji hoped might not be a recurrence. Sawamura fell into his chair with a large sigh.

“I am so lucky.” Sawamura said with the largest grin on his face. 

“That seems so,” Keiji added.

Oikawa sprawled out onto the table. “That’s no fair. Marriages are supposed to be all work and no play. You can’t act like a bunch of love birds ten years later.” 

“It’s been longer than that, Tooru, and you know it.” Sawamura smiled. “We got married out of high school.” 

“That’s even worse!” Oikawa groaned. 

Sawamura laughed in response and gave Oikawa a small pat on the back. When he announced that he did, in fact, have to go home before Tobio got there, the Pretty Setter Squad meeting officially came to a close.  

Keiji took his car and drove around a bit before he went to get Koutaro and Shouyou.. Sawamura had gotten married when he got out of high school, and Oikawa was just getting around to it, and he and Koutaro... After college, maybe? To be quite honest, Keiji couldn’t remember. Those old jokes from his teammates about them being married since Keiji joined the team didn’t sound so far off. 

He pulled into the driveway and stared at the wall for a second. How long had he had Shouyou? How long had he known Koutaro, in all? How long had they been together? Since Koutaro left for college?

Keiji’s head was full of questions of a similar caliber, but he pushed them to the back of his head while he went to retrieve his family. His airheadedness didn’t get past Kuroo or Kozume, but Keiji hardly registered it. He was instantly brought back into the spitfire world of Koutaro and Shouyou. 

“How was your time, Shou-tan?” Keiji said like his head wasn’t as cluttered as it felt.

“It was great!” Shouyou cheered with humongous gestures. “I almost beat Kenma in Smash!” 

“Congratulations,” Keiji smiled. 

Koutaro tilted his head to the side. “Keiji? You okay?” 

Keiji perked up and shook his head a bit. “Yes, Kou-tan, I’m fine. I was just reminiscing in the car. It’s an odd feeling.” 

“Want me to drive?” Koutaro offered, and Keiji nodded. 

They got in the car together. Keiji sat in his seat, listening to Shouyou describe his day in the most over dramatic way possible, with Koutaro chiming in every once and a while to say something equally ridiculous. 

Keiji took in a breath and sighed. Maybe he’d get something for Koutaro tomorrow. They sold copies of that shounen manga he liked down the street from work. He’d like that. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS TOOK LONGER THAN I EXPECTED IM SORRY!!!  
> its not very good and keiji's thoughts at the end are Literally Me. so im gonna probably take a break from this for a while to plan it out and make a real plot.  
> also! my book is out. go read it on wattpad! https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/61113178-infinitesimal


	9. muddling meddlers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keiji doesn't want the plot to thicken this much.

Over the course of the next week, Keiji found himself spending more and more time with his fellow Pretty Setters. Sawamura said that he had a lot of downtime, and Oikawa hardly seemed to have any work at all from his open schedule. A lot of planning just came from working around Keiji’s meetings. At one of their meetups, Oikawa brought up something Keiji had nearly forgotten. 

“Hey, Bokuaka-chan,” he started. “Who’s that other setter you know? Kamezo?” 

Keiji looked up from his drink. “Ah, Kozume. Kozume Kenma.”

Oikawa leaned back in his chair. “Yeah, Kenma-chan! Do you think you could invite him over next time?” 

Sawamura cradled his head in his hands. “But isn’t Kozume-san a bit shy? The way you talk about him, he might not get along with,” he coughed, “certain people.” 

“Excuse you, Koushi,” Oikawa huffed. “I am a very easy person to get along with!”

Keiji laughed while Sawamura stared at him. Keiji regained his composure and waved Sawamura’s worry off. 

“No, no, he’s around Shou-tan and Kou-tan all the time. He’s used to that kind of energy-wasting personality.” He assured them. 

“Energy-wasting?! Bokuaka-chan, you wound me!” Oikawa placed a hand on his collarbone dramatically. 

It took a few seconds before the table erupted in laughter. Of course a few other patrons side eyed them, but the waitresses at the small cafe had gotten used to the Pretty Setter Squad by now. Half of them were women too, so they all knew about Oikawa already. Keiji had been an embarrassed witness to a few confessions by now. 

Sawamura cleared his throat first and looked slyly over to Oikawa. “You know who Keiji-san hasn’t met yet, Tooru...” 

“No. No, we’re not doing that.” Oikawa shook his head. “No Iwa-chan.” 

“No Iwa-chan?” Keiji mused. “How am I supposed to show you my genius setter if you won’t show me Iwa-chan?” 

Oikawa puffed his cheeks and looked between the two. They were 100% picking on him. He turned away from them and crossed his arms. Keiji grinned. Shouyo did the same thing when he was younger. It would take a few minutes, maybe, but...

“Fine.” Oikawa huffed out. “You can meet Iwa-chan if I get to see the fourth Pretty Setter.” 

“ _ Fifth, _ ” Sawamura corrected, “Tobio is pretty.” 

“Tobio-kun is pretty,” Keiji agreed. 

“Thank you, Keiji! Someone gets it.” Sawamura cheered quietly just as Oikawa got a phone call. The model rolled his eyes. He stood up, excused himself for a moment and picked up the phone. 

“Hello? Oikawa speaking.” He started. 

Sawamura stared at his hands while Oikawa chattered. Keiji decided his best bet would be to finish his drink, so he sipped at it and waited for his lunch mate. Oikawa’s whole body moved as he talked, his hand moved from his waist to raking through his hair. 

“Yeah, I get it Makki, thanks.” He finished, and hung up the phone. He sighed as he sat and flagged down a waitress. “Sorry guys, party’s over.” 

“Thanks, Tooru. Hanamaki-san is picking you up?” Sawamura smiled. 

“Yeah, gotta wait on the curb. Call me later, ‘kay?” Oikawa asked, and Sawamura nodded. Oikawa smiled a little halfhearted, and placed a 2,000 yen on the table. “I’ll pay for today if you pay for next time.” 

“Okay.” Sawamura nodded again. 

They watched as a sleek white car rolled up and Oikawa apologized as he got in. Sawamura sighed and drank more of his coffee. 

“God, they overwork him.” He whispered, barely audible. In a flash, Sawamura regained his composure and bright smile and turned to Keiji. “Hey, does Shouyo have school today?” 

Keiji shook his head. 

“Great! How about I go pick up Tobio and we hang around your place for a bit? I’ll bring booze!”

Keiji laughed. “Sure, that sounds great.”

Sawamura clapped his hands together. “Fantastic! I’ll call the fam and meet you over there, okay? Take the bus back by yourself.” 

Keiji nodded and made his way out. The bus ride was short, and Shouyo’s attention span was shorter, so the instant Keiji brought up the idea of Tobio coming over, the young ginger threw his hands into the air and ran around the house yelling. 

Koutaro poked his head out of his workspace (literally, he worked out there,) and called for Keiji. 

“What’s up with the firecracker?” He asked as Shouyo ran to take a shower, change his clothes, clean his room, and generally complete all of his chores without being asked to. 

“Sawamura-san and Tobio are coming over.” Keiji told him as his eyes traced after his son. 

“The pretty one or captain?” Koutaro asked. 

“Pretty one.” 

“Oh! I like him. Tell me when they get here, I want to show him and Tobio-kun the tape from my latest game!” Koutaro grinned. He turned back into his workspace when a thought suddenly hit Keiji.

“Kou-tan?” He asked. 

“Hm?” 

Keiji leaned into the doorway of the workspace. He stared at the treadmill for a second before speaking again. “Did you ever know an Oikawa Tooru? Do you  _ know _ an Oikawa Tooru?” 

A light bulb blinked in his husband’s head. “Oh, yeah! I really wanted to play with him on the national team, but the Tokyo team had too many setters already. He got benched a lot.” 

“That’s a shame.” Keiji said slowly. His doorbell rang and he heard a clambering down the stairs followed by a “I got it! I got it!” 

Keiji smiled and turned around to see Shouyo opening the door to Sawamura and Tobio. His son yelled a bit too loud and Tobio slapped his hands over his ears. 

“TOBIO-KUN!” Shouyo hollered, “DO YOU HAVE SMASH BROTHERS!?”

It took a moment for the young blueberry to process what Shouyo had yelled, but when he did, he still looked confused. 

“Smash brothers?” He asked as gently as he could. 

“Smash brothers!” Shouyo reiterated. 

“No.” Tobio said as his face fell into its signature pout. “What’s that.”

Shouyo gasped a bit too dramatically and turned to Keiji. “Daaad? Can we?” 

Keiji smiled and waved them off. Shouyo jumped into the air in excitement then pulled Tobio along behind him. Keiji let out a sigh as he heard his son ramble excitedly about all the different characters and ways to play. 

“Sorry about that,” Keiji said, a bit embarrassed. “When I went out with you guys earlier, Shouyo was playing with Kenma and now that’s all he’s been doing.” Keiji counted on his fingers. “Well, besides volleyball and schoolwork, that is.” 

Sawamura kicked off his shoes and laughed. “What a responsible kid. I can hardly get Tobio to do something other than volleyball.” 

Keiji laughed lightly and led Sawamura to their living room. Sawamura sat down and looked around the room, for what Keiji hadn’t the faintest idea. Keiji asked him if he wanted tea or coffee or anything, and he waved him off and said no. 

Keiji opened his mouth to say something but was quickly shut down by his friend. 

“Listen, Keiji,” Sawamura said slowly. He looked off in the distance. “It’s about Tooru.”

“Oikawa-san?” Keiji said nervously. He sat down across from Sawamura and looked long and hard at him. Sawamura met his eyes. 

“He needs to get laid.” 

“...”

“...”

“What?” 

“What?”

“You said... Oikawa-san needs to get..?” Keiji whispered. 

“Laid. Yes. And so do you, to be honest.” Sawamura said with a wink.

“We can discuss that later. This is about Oikawa-san, correct?” 

Sawamura coughs. “Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s more about getting him hitched than getting him laid though.” 

“Would you like to elaborate?” Keiji asked with a quirked brow. 

Sawamura leaned back. “You have, of course, heard of the infamous Iwa-chan.”

“Iwa-chan was so rude today! He told me I needed to eat a good amount of food and take care of myself for once!” Keiji imitated, his voice reaching a register he didn’t know he had. 

Sawamura laughed, “that’s a good one! I bet Tooru’ll appreciate that.” He cleared his throat. “However. I think that you need to meet Iwaizumi-san and talk to him. Figure out what’s going on between them and get one of them - Please, one of them - to propose.” 

Keiji shuffled in his seat. “I don’t understand why it should be me.” 

Sawamura averted his eyes. He looked to the ground and huffed out, “they know how nosey I am.” 

Keiji coughed as an attempt to laugh. Thankfully, Koutaro swung open the door to his workspace. He frowned at Keiji before planting himself next to Sawamura. 

“Sawamura-san! Hello!” Koutaro grinned. 

“Hiya!” Sawamura piped up. He thought for a moment and pointed. “Koutaro?” 

Koutaro nodded and flexed dramatically. “The one and only!” 

Sawamura clapped and giggled lightly. Koutaro smiled brightly in his stupidly charismatic way. Then it hit Keiji why he had even came out. 

“Oh, Kou-tan, do you want me to put your tape on for Sawamura? And get the kids?” Keiji asked as he stood up. 

Koutaro nodded vigorously. Keiji smiled and went out to find the tape and the children. He found them sitting next to each other, Tobio trying not to look at his hands as he slammed random buttons on the GameCube controller. Shouyo looked much more in control, thinking out his actions and leaping over Tobio with a much lighter character. Keiji walked behind them and sat down. Shouyo turned around and opend his mouth, but Tobio got in a good hit and launched him across the stage. Keiji laughed quietly. 

Shouyo leaned his head back with a pout. “Dad, why did you walk over here?” 

“Because I love to ruin your games,” Keiji said, completely deadpan. While Shouyo looked utterly unimpressed, Tobio seemed to be honestly worried. 

“Seriously Dad.” Shouyo said. “What’s up.” 

“Me and Tobio’s dad are going to watch your dad’s volleyball tape.” Keiji supplied. 

“Volleyball?” Tobio hummed excitedly. 

Shouyo paused his game while Keiji fished out the DVD and shoved it into the DVD player. He turned to Keiji and smiled. “Could you go get your dad for me?” 

Shouyou nodded and ran off. Tobio sat very still and stared at the television screen, somewhere between patiently and impatiently waiting for the video to start. Keiji sits down next to him and prepares to hit the play 

Keiji sighed lightly. “You like volleyball a lot, don’t you.” 

Tobio turned to him and stared at him intently. “I love volleyball.” 

“Seems like it,” Keiji agreed. “Well, if you ever want help with setting, I toss to Kou-ta-- Koutaro every once and awhile. If you ever need some pointers, I can help you.” 

Tobio’s eyes lit up. “You toss to one of the best aces of our era?” 

Keiji grinned. “Of course.” 

Tobio opened his mouth to undoubtedly ramble about how tossing to Koutaro was when the ace himself walked into the room. 

He stepped in with amazing grandeur and smiled brightly. Shouyo blazed through the door and slid down next to Tobio with a huge grin on his face, effectively taking Keiji’s spot. He placed himself next to his husband and hit play. 

“Hey, Tobio-kun! Did you know that the setter on that team used to be on Shiratorizawa?” Shouyo whispered, or tried to. 

“Shut up, Shouyo! I’m trying to watch the game!” Tobio whisper-growled. 

“Okay, but, they have--” Shouyo tried again.

“Shouyo, I know!” 

The setter sent the ball rocketing into the air. Koutaro leaped and slammed the ball onto the other team’s libero. The ball ricocheted off his arms and off the court. Koutaro landed on the ground and looked to his teammates. One lifted him into the air and collapsed onto the floor with a laugh. The camera panned up to the stands where Keiji and Shouyo leaned over the railing and cheered. 

Tobio turned to Shouyo and gasped. “You’re on TV!”

Shouyo turned around to his parents. “We were on TV?” 

Koutaro laughed and puffed up his chest. “Of course! They always put a shot of the ace’s beautiful family whenever he does an amazing spike!” 

Koutaro leaned over and kissed Keiji on the cheek. Nothing too scandalous, of course, Koutaro wasn’t that kind of person, but it still embarrassed the hell out of Keiji. 

“Kou-tan, please,” Keiji said softly.

“DAD don’t be gross!” Shouyo whined. 

“Yeah Dad, don’t be gross,” Sawamura imitated. Keiji shoved him over. 

The rest of the match went a little uneventful. It seemed a little stacked to begin with, each time Koutaro’s spike went over to their side Keiji could see the fear in their eyes. Sawamura supplied Koutaro’s ego with oos and aas and every so often patted his shoulder in congratulations.

The match came to a close with 25-18. Koutaro whistled and stood up. Shouyo and Tobio turned around with huge smiles on their faces. Tobio scrambled to his feet and stumbled in front of Koutaro. 

“Bokuto-Akaashi-san!” He peeped. “Can -- Could I maybe -- uh maybe sort of...”

“C’mon, kid, out with it!” Koutaro bellowed, but still kind enough not to scare the kid. 

“Can I maybe toss to you, Bokuto-Akaashi-san?” Tobio yipped with a full flushed face. 

Koutaro blinked. He cleared his throat. He stumbled over and laughed. Keiji panicked for a moment. 

“Kou-tan, don’t laugh at the poor kid,” Keiji said lightly. 

“Sorry, Keiji just. Damn.” He got a firm slap on the ass. “Sorry, sorry! Dang.” Koutaro slid a hand behind his neck and sighed. “Sure. Tobio, right? Send me a few tosses. Let’s see how this goes.” 

Shouyo stood up and groaned. “What? Tobio-kun, you’re tossing to Dad but not me? That’s so rude!” 

Tobio turned around and huffed. “You need to get your recieves better first.”

Shouyo whined again and pulled Koutaro out the door to the backyard. He just laughed as both children dragged on his arms and begged to be played with. 

Keiji scoffed. “Where’d Tobio get all that sass from? You and Daichi seem mild enough.” 

“Oikawa.” Sawamura said with a straight face. 

“That makes sense.” 

“Speaking of that handsome son of a-” 

“Language, and yes. I know.” Keiji finished for him. “My sister, she works for this fashion magazine. Maybe I can set up an interview or something and get him talking.”  _ Hiromi really wants to meet him _ , he doesn’t say. 

“Oh, maybe. You’re sister pretty?” Sawamura asked. 

Keiji nodded and pulled out his phone. One of the earliest pictures on it was of him and Hiromi, with her taking the picture and Keiji looking utterly confused. Sawamura laughed. 

“Seriously? Dang, she’s pretty. Why isn’t she a model herself?” Sawamura commented, and Keiji didn’t exactly know how to feel about that. 

“Yes, I suppose.” Keiji paused to think about the question his friend proposed. “And she doesn’t like all the attention on her. She likes watching.” 

“Fair enough.” Sawamura shrugged. “I can count on you though? To get to Oikawa, or Iwaizumi, somehow?” 

Keiji sucked in a long sigh. “Sure, Koushi-san. I’ll do it.” 

Sawamura squealed with excitement, and Keiji immediately regretted his decision to meddle. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god. dAMN that took a while, and I'm sorry about that! I finished my book, got wrapped up in school life, and now things are stressful as hell but this is a good way to ease it off. And! And! I've got an actual plot to work with!   
> also for reference, each chapter is about a week or so apart, unless it's like alternating perspectives or smth, if my sense of time in writing is too hard to follow. I have a weakness for that.   
> hope you enjoyed~


	10. and he appears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keiji meddles a bit too much

The first thing that Keiji did to track down Iwaizumi or Oikawa was get to his sister. She’d love to not only hear about what Keiji had gotten himself into but that she would get to be apart of it.

Shouyo was still reeling over getting to see Tobio again and bounced off the walls trying to get Keiji to scheduale another play date.

“Shou-tan, no, um,” Keiji stumbled, trying to look for words. “I need to call up Aunt Hiromi, why don’t you call Tobio-kun on your phone?”

Shouyo stared at his hands for a moment. “Oh. My. GOSH Dad you’re a genious!”

Keiji laughed softly. “I know, Shou-tan, it comes with being a father. Now go along, let me call up Hiromi.”

Shouyo ran off and squealed into his phone. Keiji breathed out and looked to his own. He brought up his contact for Hiromi and hit dial.

The phone rung twice. Hiromi picked it up instantly.

“Oh. My. God. Kei-tan.” Hiromi kept her squeal under her breath. “You have to tell me everything you know about Oikawa Tooru. Right now.”

“He really likes milk bread,” Keiji said.

“I mean I knew that, doofus.” Hiromi groaned. “But like, there are tabloids, mkay? And they knew about the Pretty Setter Squad. But now they’re saying there’s a new member? And that he looks awfully similar to the husband of world-renowned volleyball player Bokuto-Akaashi Koutaro?”

“Yeah,” Keiji choked out a laugh. “That happened recently.”

“And you _didn’t_ call your beautiful amazing wonderful sister and tell her first thing?” Hiromi huffed. “God, Kei-tan. That’s like, super rude.”

“I know, I know, but that’s why I’m calling.” Keiji smiled.

He heard Hiromi fall onto her couch. Still as soft as ever. “I’m listening...”

Keiji cleared his throat. “You know about uh... Iwa-chan?” It felt weird calling a person he hardly knew something that casual.

“Iwaizumi? Oikawa’s boyfriend? Heck yeah I do!” Hiromi cooed. “He’s got such nice arms, like your Kou-tan. I’d want a man with biceps like that any day.”

“I’m glad to hear that, because I have a proposition for you.” Keiji said. He layered his voice with a much honey as he could to get his idol-adoring sister to take the bait.

“Whatcha got for me, Kei-tan. Please, I’m begging you.”  Hiromi whined.

“I happen to be planning a meeting with Oikawa and I thought you might want to come along.” Keiji finished.

“No. No way, you’re kidding. Kei-tan! Oh my god!”  Hiromi stood up from her couch and pranced around in circles. “Kei-tan, you are soooo good to me. If I get to meet Oikawa hecking Tooru I’ll die. He’s gorgeous.”

“I know, Hiromi, I know.” Keiji breathed out a sigh. “I’ll have to call him up first, but maybe we could all go out this afternoon?”

“Oh my God. Okay. Get the okay from Oikawa and then text me the addy for where you want to go. I’m going to plan my whole week around this! Oh my God! I love you Kei-tan!!”

She hung up. Keiji stared at his phone for a moment. Should he jump straight into calling Oikawa or wait a moment? Is there something else he should do? He looked up and saw Shouyo chatting away. He sucked in a breath and decided to just call him.

The phone rang once. Oikawa picked it up immediately.

“Hey, Bokuaka-chan, what’s going on in Marriage Land?” Oikawa cooed into the phone.

“Nothing in particular,” Keiji mused. “Although I do have a favor to ask of you.”

Oikawa hummed. “Anything for you, Bokuaka-chan.”

“My sister, she-”

“Say no more, Bokuaka-chan,” Oikawa said, feigning grandeur. “Your darling little sister saw me in one of her tabloids and now she wants to meet me?”

“Older sister, works for said tabloids, but yes. She does want to meet you.”  Keiji confirmed.

Oikawa shuffled in place. Each movement echoed in the receiver and made Keiji’s head hurt. “Oh man, Bokuaka-chan, I bet she’s gorgeous! What magazine does she work for?”

“Why don’t you ask her that yourself?” Keiji grinned.

Oikawa huffed. “God, Keiji you little tease! Where do we meet up?”

“The usual, to make it easy. I’ll see you at about 2, is that okay?” Keiji decides. It’s not too far from Hiromi, and Oikawa is familiar enough to want to gush a bit.

“Fantastic, Bokuaka-chan. See you there!” Oikawa sang and hung up.

Keiji huffed. Well, that was easier done than said. He turned, still looking at his phone, and nearly bumped into Shouyo. The kid had his phone between his ear and his shoulder and it toppled off of him when he tried to avoid his father.

Keiji reached and caught the phone between his fingers. Shouyo’s face was white as a sheet. He looked up to his dad and gulped. “Th-thanks Dad!” Keiji handed the phone over to him and sighed.

“Of course, Shou-tan.” Keiji breathed out. He poked his head into Koutaro’s workspace. “Kou-tan?”

Koutaro dropped his dumbbell and rushed over to his husband. He wrapped Keiji up in his arms and spun him around. Koutaro planted a kiss on his cheek and looked for his mouth, kissing the whole way.

Keiji flushed and leaned into Koutaro, kissing him back lightly. Koutaro got a bit too heated, moving down and covering Keiji’s neck with kisses and Keiji took all of his control to try and get his husband off of him.

“Kou-tan,” he huffed, “Kou-tan, I needed to tell you...”

Koutaro pulled his mouth of Keiji’s neck and stared at him with lidded eyes. “What’s up, Keiji? Owl got your tongue?”

Keiji laughed. “No, but one might in a minute.” Koutaro’s face rose in expectancy, and Keiji quickly realized what he’d roped himself into. “Kou-tan, I have to go out later to meet up with Hiromi-neesan and--”

“Nee-chan? Woah! Can I come?” Koutaro jumped with Keiji still in his arms. “I haven’t seen nee-chan in ages! How come?”

Keiji waved him off. “I’m sorry, Kou-tan, you can’t come.”

Koutaro dropped him. “What!? Why?”

“Secret setter business.” Keiji whispered and kissed Koutaro on the cheek. “I’ll be back before dinner. Do you want me to bring anything back with me?”

Koutaro huffed. “Yeah, some of the chicken from that good Chinese place.”

Keiji leaned in and kissed him again. Koutaro tried ignoring him, but broke the second Keiji went in for a second kiss. He smiled. He might be a little late for his meet up with Hiromi and Oikawa.

 

He was a minute late, at most. Hiromi was already there, her dark hair flowing and brushed behind her shoulders. Her deep black, or maybe dark blue, dress hugged her sides nicely. Keiji kept his sigh inside. Like Hiromi had told Keiji weeks ago, she didn’t need to try to impress Oikawa. She was just naturally beautiful.

As he waved her down and half jogged half walked to her, he rationed that maybe she was doing it for herself.

He sat down next to her and smiled. Hiromi didn’t have much in terms of makeup. Yeah. She was doing it for herself.

“Kei-tan! Oh my god, you look...” Hiromi looked him up and down. “Roughed up.”

Keiji bit his lip. Hiromi held up her hand. “Say no more, Kei-tan, I do not want to know.”

“I _do_ though!” Rang Oikawa’s pretty little voice.

“Ah, Oikawa-san. Nice to see you.” Keiji said. He tried to avoid looking at his sister in case she got embarrassed by him, but it all seemed to be working.

“Nice to see you too, Bokuaka-chan.” Oikawa cooed as he sat down next to him. “So who might this lovely lady be?”

“Oikawa-san, this is my older sister, Hiromi Akaashi.” Keiji motioned towards her. “Nee-san, this is Oikawa Tooru.”

Oikawa held out his hand. Hiromi took it and shook. Oikawa pulled away and looked at his hand. “Wow, Akaashi-chan. You have really soft hands.”

“Oh.” Hiromi paused. “Thank you?”

Keiji shoved Oikawa. “Don’t be weird, Oikawa-san.”

“You know, I could say the same thing about you, Bokuaka-chan!” Oikawa raised his voice and promptly fizzled out. “Like, uh...”

Hiromi giggled behind her hand. “Goodness, Oikawa-san.”

He looked at her, completely hurt, and recomposed himself. “Sorry, Akaashi-chan. Your little brother is just...” He huffed. “Frustrating.”

“Tell me about it, Oikawa-san. He just kinda stands there and looks pretty like a jerkwad.” Hiromi crossed her arms.

“I feel incredibly attacked.” Keiji said. “However, Oikawa-san, didn’t you have something you wanted to ask nee-san?”

“Oh! Thank you, Bokuaka-chan.” Oikawa turned to Hiromi. “So, Bokuaka-chan tells me you work for fashion magazine?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah! I work for Peach Fuzz!” Hiromi leaned forward and grinned. “You haven’t done a spread for us yet, Oikawa-san. I’ve been waiting!”

“Peach Fuzz?” He leaned back. “Peach Fuzz..... Oh! Oh! They just started out right? God, those massive sales though. The cover art is so well done I just _have_ to buy them.”

Hiromi flipped her hair over her shoulder, a confident look on her face. “Why thank you, Oikawa-san.”

“Seriously? That’s you, Akaashi-chan?” Oikawa leaned far forward. A waitress jumped and scuttered past.

“Indeed!” Hiromi laughed. “I’m glad you like them, a couple of them were kind of made with your audience in mind.”

“Oh? Like which ones?”

“The last August issue, and the one coming up soon, actually! Here, I have a sketch on my phone...”

When he felt they had finally gotten far enough into their conversation, Keiji 100% tuned out. For a moment, he considered commenting on something, anything, but all this talk of composition and color went right over Keiji’s head. Hiromi spent four years at art school and another two in fashion, unlike Keiji who spent four years just in writing and editing.

He looked between the two and tried to keep his laughter to himself. Oikawa looked at her wide eyed and curious, while Hiromi blabbered on and on about the types of models they’d had so far. Oikawa looked like a three year old in a candy store listening to her talk about all the different models that had worked there. Keiji tuned in for a moment.

“You know, we do couple shoots too.” Hiromi cooed. “We could do something really cool with you and your significant other.”

“Iwa-chan? No, no he’s not ready for that. He’s too..” Oikawa waved his hand around dismissively. “Iwa-chan.”

“I doubt that,” Keiji added. “If he hangs around you he’s well enough ready for modeling.”

“Iwa-chan?” Hiromi asked. “Is she cute? Can I see?”

“He’s a boy, Nee-san.” Keiji chided. “Do have a picture of him, Oikawa-san?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess?” Oikawa looked at his twiddling thumbs. “Iwa-chan’s a bit shy, I don’t know if he’d like me showing you.”

Hiromi sighed. “Okay then. It’s just we’ve been looking for someone to do this really interesting shoot, and I feel like you fit the first part of it. Elegant, beautiful, tactful...” She grinned. Keiji realized that Hiromi had looked up Iwaizumi before.

“I could fit that, yeah.” Oikawa shrugged nonchalantly. “What’s the second part? Maybe I can hit up one of my contacts for you.”

Hiromi grinned wider and wider. “We need someone with really nice arms.”

“Well my Iwa-chan has the--” Oikawa began his ramble just to cut himself off. “You’re. No. Nope!” Oikawa shook his head “You are just as clever as your little brother, Akaashi-chan.”

“I’m more clever than he is,” Hiromi sighed. “Where do you think he learned it from?”

“Mother,” Keiji added under his breath. Hiromi hit him.

Hiromi leaned forward and frowned. “Come on, Oikawa-san. Can I just see Iwa-chan? Once?”

Keiji tilted his head and tried his best to mimic Shouyo’s puppydog eyes. “Once?”

Oikawa looked between them for a moment. He turned to the side and huffed dramatically. “Fine. One look at Iwa-chan, then we’re dropping this stupid topic.”

Hiromi and Keiji exchanged equalled excited looks as Oikawa shuffled through his phone to find a suitable picture. It took a bit longer than expected, sure, but Keiji would finally have a face to match to the name of Iwaizumi.

Oikawa took one last look at phone and sighed. “Whatever. This is the best one I have.”

Hiromi and Keiji leaned forward. The man took up a majority of the frame, with Oikawa’s head blurry and pushed out of the corner of the frame. His hair was short and looked naturally spiked, which surprised Keiji. Koutaro spent a full fifteen minutes on his hair each morning.

Iwaizumi’s arms were twice the size of Oikawa’s. Huge. Massive. He looked like he worked out twice a day and didn’t even break a sweat. Keiji looked up to Oikawa in mock horror.

Hiromi was the first to speak. “How can one man’s arms be so strong?”

Oikawa sighed and pulled the phone back. He stared at the photo for a second before he shoved it back into his pocket. “Because he’s my wonderful Iwa-chan.”

Hiromi pulled out her phone and checked her email. Keiji tried to lean over to read what she was looking at, but Hiromi stuck her tongue out and frowned. She looked back to Oikawa.

“Seriously, Oikawa-san, he’s perfect for the shoot. Absolutely. Fantastic. Oh my god, Rei-chan is going to flip!” Hiromi slammed on her phone. She turned to Keiji. “You. Are fantastic, you know that?”

“You’ve said it before, nee-san.” Keiji said.

Oikawa had pulled his feet up onto the chair and stared lovingly at his phone. He typed something on it every few seconds and giggled when he got a response. Keiji kept his eye rolling to himself.

“Oikawa-san, how far away does Iwaizumi-san live? Could you maybe invite him here and ask?” Hiromi cooed.

Keiji thanked her, and she smiled. He hoped his sister had finally caught onto what Keiji was set up to do and happily obliged.

“Iwa-chan and I live together,” Oikawa supplied, “he’s like, five minutes away.”

Hiromi and Keiji exchanged looks. “Oikawa-san,” they said in unison.

“No.”

“Call him.”

“No!”

“How do we know you didn’t photoshop Iwaizumi-san’s huge arms?” Hiromi countered.

“I wouldn’t dare deface my Iwa-chan!” Oikawa snapped as his face broke it’s usual flair of elegance.

“Then prove it.” Keiji grinned.

Oikawa stared at Keiji with a fire in his eyes. He got his phone and said into it: “Call Iwa-chan.”

The phone rang for a moment. Before the last dial tone, Iwaizumi picked up. Oikawa’s face brightened in an instant.

“Iwa-chan! Hiya!” Oikawa listened for a moment. “That’s rude, Iwa-chan. I know, okay? It’s your lunch break though, right? Do you think you could stop by that cafe I really like to meet some of my friends? They’d really like you okay bye!”

Oikawa hung up and threw his phone onto the table. Hiromi opened and closed her mouth. Keiji didn’t say a word.

Hiromi managed to get a syllable out. “Did he say yes?”

“No.”

“Did he say anything?” Keiji tried.

“No.”

“Do you think he’s coming?”

Oikawa fiddled with his fingers. “Yeah.”

Keiji’s eyes grazed over the street. It took a minute, but a car came swinging around the corner and parked a few spaces down the road. A person clambered out of it and speedwalked down the street.

Oikawa waved him down and smiled brightly. “Iwa-chan! Thank’s for coming!”

Iwaizumi growled. Legitimately growled at Oikawa. Keiji gulped.

He looked even better in real life. He had a harsh look to him, like he’d dealt with Oikawa’s shit for one too many years. Iwaizumi pulled a chair up and sat next to Oikawa. The latter swung his arm around Iwaizumi’s and smiled brightly.

“Hello Iwaizumi,” Keiji said slowly. “I’m Bokuto-Akaashi Keiji. This is my sister, Akaashi Hiromi.”

Hiromi held out her hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Iwaizumi-san!”

Iwaizumi grabbed it and grunted. “Pleasure.”

It was silent for a moment. Keiji and Hiromi eyed each other nervously, hoping Iwaizumi didn’t notice how scared the two of them were.

Oikawa hummed, content with the group of people he had, and leaned into Iwaizumi’s ear. He whispered something and Iwaizumi backed off. His eyes shifted between the Akaashis. He gulped.

Iwaizumi looked flustered. He slid a hand behind his neck and looked anywhere but at the two in front of him.

“Tooru says that you need me to model for you?”

Hiromi kept in her laugh by slamming her hand onto her mouth. Keiji slapped her shoulder. He eased his expression and sighed.

“Yes, Hiromi said she needed someone very strong looking to pair up with Oikawa-san here for a shoot.” He shoved his sister again. “Right, Hiromi? Why don’t you talk to Iwaizumi-sand and Oikawa-san here for a minute?”

Hiromi chuckled softly and regained her composure. “Yes, of course. Here, Iwaizumi-san, let me show you how we would set it up,” she leaned in with her phone and stylus at the ready.

Keiji took this as his chance to text Sawamura as quickly as he could.

**_I can’t believe you talked me into this._ **

Maybe a minute passed.

**_Have you seen Iwaizumi?? He’s so gr9, isnt he????_ **

**_Yes sure whatever but what do I do now? He’s here but I can’t figure out how to persuade him....._ **

Hiromi leaned back and checked her phone. She shook her head, and moved back to showing Oikawa some overly fancy clothing. Keiji’s phone buzzed, but Iwaizumi’s attention moved to him and he couldn’t answer.

“So your sister’s a magazine editor?” Iwaizumi huffed out a laugh. “And of course, the both of you are pretty. It’s not fair.”

“I beg to differ, Iwaizumi-san, you are quite charming.” Keiji said with a characteristic straight face.

Iwaizumi snorted. “Charming isn’t the word one would usually use.”

Keiji glossed him over. “Strong arms, stronger brow, and just looking like you could pop a watermelon with your thighs? Mighty charming from my point of view.”

Hiromi slapped his hand. “You married a buff volleyball player. That doesn’t count.”

Iwaizumi’s eyebrows lifted. “I keep up. Who is it?”

Keiji sighed. If he hadn’t kept up yet, they must still call Koutaro by his maiden name on all of the news channels. “Bokuto-Akaashi Koutaro? They might still call him Bokuto, however.”

Iwaizumi hit one hand on the other. “Koutaro? Seriously? That’s pretty damn cool.”

Keiji smiled softly. “It is.” He turned his attention to Oikawa. “Kou-tan said that he played with you for a while, too?”

Oikawa sputtered. “You call him _Kou-tan_ ? Oh my god, Bokuaka-chan, that does _not_ fit your cool calm and collected demeanor.”

Hiromi raised her hand. “Guilty as charged. My little Kei-tan here picked it up from me.”

“One: That’s freaking adorable. Two:” Oikawa leaned back. “I played with Koutaro-san for a while. I think they kept him on the court for the first year or so because he’d get all dejected if he was off of it.”

“Sounds like him.” Keiji agreed. He’d gotten on the volleyball topic and needed to back out of it before something completely ruined Oikawa’s mood.

Hiromi, the goddess she was, picked up on that. “So you two.” She started. “Hitched? Dating? What’s going on here?”

Oikawa turned bright red. Iwaizumi put his hand back behind his neck. The former hid his head in Iwaizumi’s shoulder and tried to brush them off. Hiromi looked confused, so Keiji leaned over and filled her in. She mouthed “oh” quietly.

Keiji grinned behind his hand. They acted like a newly formed high school couple; obviously attached at the hip but still nervous when the relationship was brought up. He and Koutaro were like that, once. Keiji was tailing the end of his third year and Koutaro had started complaining about how far apart they were.

Hiromi leaned on her arm. “If you two got hitched it would make headlines for years.”

Keiji’s face went white. Hiromi, the angel that she was, didn’t usually have a filter. She just said whatever popped up in her head, well-thought out or otherwise. He put a gentle hand on her shoulder, and Hiromi turned around.

She pouted. “Oh, shoot. I did it again, didn’t I?”

Keiji nodded.

“And I was doing so well, too! Augh, I’m so sorry, Iwaizumi-san, Oikawa-san.” Hiromi frowned.

Oikawa blinked. He turned to Iwaizumi, who shrugged. He sighed. “You remind me a little of Tobio-kun, Akaashi-chan. In a really weird way.”

Keiji nodded in agreement. Hiromi hadn’t met Tobio yet, but Keiji knew she would love him to pieces. He took the moment to check his phone, where Sawamura had been blowing it up.

**_Bring up volleyball! Iwa-chan loves volleyball!! Tooru loves it too but he gets sad :(_ **

**_Keiji?? Keiji plz tell me u brought up vball_ **

**_Tobio wants play with Shouyo again can we set something up?_ **

**_Oh my you’re probably in a conversation with iwa-chan and Tooru sorry!_ **

He laughed.

**_It’s fine, Sawamura. I’ll see if we can set something up between Tobio and Shouyo soon._ **

Iwaizumi cleared his throat. “So, uh, Bokuto-Akaashi,” he said.

Keiji looked up from his phone. “Yes?”

“You... You’re married, right?” He seemed flustered and embarrassed. His eyes shot around and a faint pink dusted his cheeks.

“I would hope so.” Keiji said.

“You got any kids?” He asked again, a little more confident. Hiromi and Oikawa had enveloped themselves in some conversation about fashion trends. Keiji smiled.

“Yeah, one boy. He’s in his first year of middle school right now.” He fished out his phone and showed Iwaizumi his lock screen.

He sighed. “I’d want a kid like that one day. He looks so bright and happy.”

“His name is Shouyo,” Keiji added.

“Of course. That’s clever of you.” Iwaizumi smirked. “Flying heaven or flying sun?”

“Whichever you think suits him better.” Keiji smirked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS... KIND OF LATE i wanted it up earlier but i started rambling and decided just to cut it so here have keiji talking to oikawa for 3,000 words  
> falls on the ground i need to proofread before i upload these there are so many typos IM SORRY....


	11. hideously obvious

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> keiji makes a HUGE MISTAKE

Oikawa hadn’t let go if Iwaizumi’s arm for the whole lunch period. They ordered food, and a small coffee for Hiromi, and Oikawa would pout whenever he had to let go of Iwaizumi’s arm to get his food. 

Often, Oikawa would exude this confidence, some radiant light and assuredness in everything he did. With Iwaizumi some of that facade broke. He acted more like himself; a bit whiny, obsessed, and not really in control of anything. Keiji admired that. A perfect looking man with not-so-perfect insides. 

Iwaizumi was another matter. He was put together, confident, and his face seemed permanently stuck in a scowl. He’d snap at Oikawa every once and a while, but it was never out of actual malice. He’d remind him to eat, take his eyes off his phone, or something equally motherly. 

Keiji had a hard time looking away from Iwaizumi’s arms. He mentally apologized to Koutaro. He has a weakness, he admitted. Arms. 

Hiromi, unsurprisingly, was unfazed. She was so used to gorgeous people and catty comebacks. She talked to Oikawa like it was no problem, using shorthand and quips that Keiji had to take a moment to process. 

Keiji, having spent nearly a month in proximity to Oikawa Tooru, still had trouble forming words around him. Iwaizumi was a godsend. He’s approachable, down to earth, and those arms... 

Keiji cleared his throat. Three sets of eyes turned to him. He coughed again, embarrassed, and waved them off. He’d been getting too lost in thought lately, and not having opportunities to talk to someone about it was starting to get to him. 

Iwaizumi grunted. Keiji looked up and saw him smiling faintly. He leaned back, Oikawa still on his arm, and spoke. 

“Uh, I’m having a great time and all, but my lunch break’s over in five.” He pecked Oikawa on the cheek and stood up. 

Keiji grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled his phone number on it. He handed it to Iwaizumi with a smile. “If you ever want to play with Kou-tan, let me know. I’m sure I can set something up.” 

Iwaizumi stared at the paper scrap. He nodded slowly and made some sort of noise before rushing off. Keiji turned to Oikawa. 

“Is he always that flustered?” He asked. 

“Only when people are nice to him, the meathead.” Oikawa said dreamily. His eyes lidded and he watched Iwaizumi go, sighing and teetering back and forth. Keiji had to keep his laughter down, but Hiromi had no such problem stating the facts. 

“You are such a lovebird.” She said, a hint of amusement on her face. 

Oikawa sat up and turned bright pink. “I am not!”

Keiji quirked a brow. “You’re sighing and watching him walk away like a lovestruck teenager.”

Oikawa pouted. “You know I am at heart, right Bokuaka-chan?” 

“Why else would you be in the Pretty Setter Squad.” Keiji breathed. 

“Excuse you, Bokuaka-chan! You’re in the Squad too!” Oikawa retorted. 

Hiromi held up her hands. “Ladies, ladies, you can both be the center in the photoshoot.” She turned to Oikawa. “However, I do think you need to make that Iwaizumi thing permanent.” 

Oikawa’s head tilted. “Permanent?” 

Keiji held up his left hand, ring glittering in the sunlight. “Put a ring on it, Oikawa.” 

Oikawa squinted at them. “Did Koushi put you up to this? He’s been pestering me about it for ages, but...”

“No,” Hiromi butted in. Her voice was stern and strict, like she was scolding Shouyo. “It’s just.. What’s the word, Kei-tan?” 

“Hideously obvious?” Keiji supplied, a dim look of unamusement on his face. 

Hiromi grinned. “Hideously obvious!” She chimed. 

Oikawa’s face went beet red. His hid his flushing features in his hands and wailed. “It’s that obvious!?” 

Hiromi laughed. “A little, yes.” 

“You were holding on to his arm the whole time.” Keiji deadpanned. 

“Yeah, and? Aren’t couples supposed to do that?” Oikawa retaliated.

Hiromi turned to Keiji and pouted. “Yes, but doesn’t that get sweaty? I know poor Kou-tan get’s kind of sweaty when he gets excited.” 

Keiji nodded. “True, true. You only hold on that hard for that long if you’ve gotten really used to them.” 

Hiromi turned back to Oikawa. “How long have you known him?” 

Oikawa blinked. He took a moment and stared at his fingers. “Before first grade.” 

Hiromi whistled. “Impressive!”

“I agree,” Keiji added. “However, since you know him that well, how do you think he would react to a, for lack of a better word, confession?” 

Oikawa leaned back and stared at the passing clouds for a moment. His eyes looked glossed over, like he’d been thinking about that question for a while. He leaned back to a more straight position. He opened his mouth. 

“I’m not sure.” 

Hiromi’s phone conveniently buzzed on the table. She picked it up and sighed. She kissed Keiji on the cheek and stood up. She frowned at Oikawa. “Sorry, hun, gotta jet. My friend Kumiko is supposedly dying.” 

Oikawa waved her off. “No biggie, Akaashi-chan! Tell me when you want me and Iwa-chan for that shoot, mkay?” 

“You tell me when you finally pick the date for the wedding, I want a good dress!” Hiromi said, walking away and waving. 

Oikawa went bright red. Keiji laughed as quietly as he could, comforting his model friend with a few pats on the back. 

“Listen, Oikawa-san,” Keiji said gently. “I didn’t mean to harass you.” 

He shoved his head into the table. He whined loudly. “But you’re right, Bokuaka-chan!”

“Oikawa-san...” Keij started.

“Drop the san already, Bokuaka-chan! Geez, you’re too formal.” Oikawa pouted. “Even though you call your husband “Kou-tan.” You’re weird.” 

Keiji smiled faintly. “I would hope so, Oikawa.” 

“There we go.” 

Keiji laughed again and sat up. He flagged down a waitress and asked for two cups of tea, one green and one lemon. She smiled and hurried away to get their drinks. 

“Hey, Bokuaka-chan,” Oikawa said slowly. 

“Yes?” 

“How did you ask?” He said, quiet as a whisper. His voice shook with worry and his eyes never met Keiji’s. 

That question was tough to answer. Ask about what? To marry Koutaro, he assumed. But did Oikawa want to hear the whole story? Keiji had been thinking about it constantly these past few weeks. He had a linear story of it in his head, but he wasn’t sure Oikawa wanted all of it. 

He softened his expression. “Do you want the whole story, Oikawa?” 

“I dunno,” Oikawa turned leaned onto his arms and his pretty doe eyes blinked away frustrated tears.

“How about just the part where we got our rings, huh?” Keiji grinned. “Sounds like a date you could take Iwa-chan on.” 

“It doesn’t sound weird when you say it, Bokuaka-chan. That’s weird. It usually sounds weird when other people call him Iwa-chan.” Oikawa huffed. 

Keiji nodded. He shifted in his seat to prepare telling Oikawa his incredibly sappy love story, but the waitress stepped in and slid their tea in front of them. Oikawa’s hand  stretched out for the lemon tea and took a giant gulp. Keiji laughed. 

“You ready?” He asked.

“No.” 

Keiji told him anyway. The day they went out for rings was the most stressful day of Keiji’s life. Koutaro had tried to hide his intentions, just because he’d gotten a boost in his paycheck and wanted to treat him. Keiji had seen through that ruse easily. Oikawa agreed. If Iwa-chan had done something like that, he would know in a heartbeat.

They walked into a little jeweler, sort of run down with a small selection, but Koutaro swore on it. His mother bought her father’s ring there, he said, and maybe Keiji would like something from there. 

The person behind the counter seemed to recognize Koutaro, and they got into a little discussion about his parents. How were they? Good, dad’s still working when he shouldn’t. This your boyfriend? Yessir, sir, he’s a beauty. You propose yet?

Koutaro’s face went bright red. Nosir, I haven’t yet. 

Keiji hid his face behind his hands and felt as hot as possible. Koutaro managed to laugh it off, but his cover was ruined. 

They looked at rings for maybe an hour, Koutaro partially trying to look for himself and partially wishing he hadn’t brought Keiji with him. He’d later said it wouldn’t feel right if he hadn’t been there to begin with. 

Keiji’s eyes stayed on a particular band, silver and wide. It looked like something could be etched into the side. Koutaro hovered around him and the ring for a while before asking if Keiji liked it. 

“Not for me,” Keiji said, spinning the ring in his hand, “it would look nice on you, though.” 

Koutaro reddened from his ears to his neck. “Did you just propose!?” 

Keiji blinked a few times. He looked down at the ring. “I supposed I did.” 

 

Oikawa snapped Keiji out of his story. 

“You’re kidding. He took  _ you _ out ring shopping and you proposed? Only kind of?” 

Keiji sighed. “Yes, I know. It’s a little ridiculous.” 

Oikawa slammed his head back onto the table. “God above, Bokuaka-chan, you are no help.” 

“I would beg to differ,” Keiji retorted, sharp as a knife. “I help Sawamura all the time. And my authors with their books.” 

“I nearly forgot you were a book editor!” Oikawa shot back up. 

Keiji took a gentle sip of his tea. “Oh, now he asks.” 

“Have you had anyone dedicate a book to me?” Oikawa asked. 

Keiji raised his eyebrow. Oikawa shut up. 

“So you’re saying....” Oikawa leaned on his arm. “I should just roll with it? Take Iwa-chan out ring shopping and pretend it doesn’t matter?” 

He said nothing. He watched Oikawa whine and writhe. He acted like a kid. If he actually had one, Keiji didn’t know if he could handle it all by himself. Keiji mentally thanked Iwaizumi. He acted like a weird, buff mother. 

“About Hiromi...” Oikawa said. He stared at his tea for a second. 

“Yes? What about her?” Keiji asked. 

“She like boys?” Oikawa responded. “Girls? What’s her type?”

Keiji sputtered. He’d never really asked Hiromi that kind of stuff, mostly because she just outright said who she liked most of the time. He stared up at Oikawa. “I’m not sure.”

Oikawa quirked a brow. “Fair enough.” 

He finished his tea. They waited in silence for a while before Oikawa waved down the waitress and they paid for everything. He stared down at his empty cup and sighed. 

“I think I’m going to ask him, Bokuaka-chan.” Oikawa said, soft as a whisper. 

“I’m glad. I hope to be the first one on your invitations list.” Keiji agreed. 

Oikawa smiled. It’s a warm and inviting thing when it’s sincere. Keiji hoped he’d get to see more of it soon. 

His friend’s back disappeared into the clutter of people. He was unrecognizable amidst the sea of bodies, although Keiji swore he saw the telltale cowlick bouncing on the top of his head. He laughed to himself. That’s an interesting defining characteristic. 

Keiji stretched and made his way back to his car for the short ride home. He listened for the telltale sounds of heavy footstep and hurried whispers that told him what his family was doing. Keiji flung open the door and saw Shouyo with his hand in the cookie jar and Koutaro leaning over to grab one himself. 

They both stopped in their tracks. 

Keiji sighed. 

“Listen, Keiji, it’s not what it looks like,” Koutaro grasped for words. “Uh, Shouyo finished his homework early so I thought I might reward him!?” 

“That sounds highly suspicious, Kou-tan.” Keiji glided over the hardwood to the cookie jar. He pulled one out and took a bite. “However, I will let it pass. We may have some good news soon.” 

Shouyo straitened up and smiled. “Do I get to see Tobio-kun soon?” 

Keiji ruffled his hair and smiled. “That too, but something else.” 

“Oh.” Shouyo pouted. “When do I get to see Tobio-kun?” 

Koutaro grinned. “Why dontcha go call him up, Shouyo? Pass the phone to you father after you two talk for a while.” 

Shouyo vibrated excitedly and hopped off the counter to grab his phone. Koutaro leaned exactly on the spot where Shouyo was. His eyebrow shot up. 

“So, Keiji,” he said. “Where were you?” 

“I was talking to Oikawa-sa--” He corrected himself. “I was talking to Oikawa.” 

Koutaro gaped. “Dropped the formalities? What happened?”

“I kind of...” Keiji paused. “I kind of got him married?” 

Koutaro’s hand slipped off the counter and he nearly tumbled to the ground. He regained his composure slowly, but managed out a few words. “Oikawa Tooru, married?” 

“To Iwaizumi Hajime,” Keiji said quietly. “He’s uh, an office worker Oikawa has known since he was little.” 

Koutaro shook his head. “I can’t believe you, Keiji.” 

Keiji hid his head in his hands. “I can’t believe me either, Kou-tan. I fell for Sawamura’s plan.” 

“Sawamura?” Koutaro gaped. “The gentle looking guy married to the old Karasuno captain? Pretty Setter Squad guy?” 

Keiji looked away from him, embarrassed and confused. “Yes. He’s been meaning to set the two up for ages and I -- for some stupid reason -- decided to help.” 

Koutaro leaned into him with bright eyes. “Keiji, do you know what this means!?” 

“No?”

“We get to buy new tuxedos.” Koutaro grinned. “You would look absolutely amazing in a blue one. And Shou-kun could use one!” 

“I feel like you’re priorities are out of place, Kou-tan.” Keiji replied, but, to be fair, he was just as equally excited. If all went well, then he would have one other person to ramble about married life to. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i assume you know what's coming by now.   
> i'm late. school is terrible. im not using this as warm ups for my book anymore so it's kinda on the backburner. i still have the whole plot outlined, and i do plan on finishing it, it just might not be until june or so. i hope you enjoyed the chapter regardless!! i forgot to proofread!


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